Visiting the 5·18 Democratic Cemetery During Lunar New Year Holiday Allowed 'Online' Only

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] This year, visits to the National 5·18 Democratic Cemetery during the Lunar New Year holiday period will be possible only ‘online’.

The National 5·18 Democratic Cemetery (Director Yoo Hyungseon) announced on the 3rd that during this Lunar New Year holiday period from the 11th to the 14th, on-site visits will be replaced by an ‘online memorial service’.

This unavoidable measure is to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections due to crowding of visitors at the national cemetery during the holiday period and to ensure the safety of visitors.

Access to the national cemetery (outdoor burial grounds, memorial hall, and eternal enshrinement hall, etc.) will be restricted, and indoor convenience facilities such as waiting rooms and lounges for visitors will be completely suspended.

However, on-site visits to the burial grounds will be allowed on a limited basis only for unavoidable cases such as anniversary memorial days, Samuje (three-day memorial rites), and 49th-day memorial rites, with prior reservations accepted until the 9th.

Regarding burial and reburial, on-site burial services will operate normally, but reburials to the national cemetery will be suspended.

To alleviate the inconvenience to bereaved families caused by the temporary suspension of on-site visits to the national cemetery, the online memorial service will be expanded and implemented.

The National 5·18 Democratic Cemetery supports ‘visiting the interred, leaving memorial messages, and online ancestral rites’ through the ‘Cyber Memorial’ section on its website to facilitate smooth online memorial services.

For bereaved families who apply by phone in advance by the 9th, cemetery staff plan to take photos of them offering flowers and paying respects to the democratic merit recipients and send these photos to the families.

A representative of the National 5·18 Democratic Cemetery said, “The replacement of on-site visits with online memorial services during the Lunar New Year holiday is an unavoidable measure to ensure the safety of veterans’ families and the public visiting the national cemetery amid the COVID-19 situation.” He added, “This decision was made after close consultation with health authorities, and we ask for understanding and cooperation despite some inconvenience and difficulties in paying respects.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.