[KS] War graves in North Korea

[Heonik Kwon]

Thank you so much, all of you, for your very engaging responses. 

I knew about the Revolutionary Martyrs' Graves and the Patrotic Martyrs' Graves that Stephen mentions. Studying their images in fact made me wonder where the other thousands postcolonial war heroes of that country are buried. 

Chris's comments are amazing and the notion of an ideologically deathless land is deafening (I've just ordered your book). Your idea of absent memories of mass war death as an instrument of a militant political order is really interesting. However, it seems that something is not right. War cemeteries are not necessaily evidence of mass suffering but can be a powerful instrument of political legitimation and social mobilization. Those in Europe were originally invented precisely for these grand purposes, meant to function to translate the meaning of tragic loss of human lives to a heroic sacrifice for the collective, and this certainly applies to the dominant culture of commemoration in the southern part of Korea. Why did the DPRK leaders decide to conceal the Korean War mass death instead of using it? 

For Kenneth, I once again thank for your illuminating story. Let me add that in this wild political world, it seems DPRK is not the only state that forgets how to use the remains of war constructively. 

heonik kwon
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