By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
A national flag, or taegeukgi, which had briefly been buried with the coffin of the late former President Kim Dae-jung, has been taken out of his grave and returned to the bereaved family.
According to government officials and aides to Kim, during Sunday’s burial ceremony at the National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong, the bereaved family and rite staff buried the national flag that covered Kim’s coffin.
The flag was retrieved when it was realized that burial of the flag violates the National Flag Law.
According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, honor guards handed the flag over to Kim’s family before the burial ritual, but former first lady Lee Hee-ho said that the flag was a keepsake of her late husband and it would be better to keep it with the deceased rather than take it back home.
Following the widow’s request, the flag, 5 meters in width and 3 meters in length, was placed on the coffin.
Government officials later realized that burial of the national flag violates the law and removed it an hour-and-a-half after the ceremony was concluded.
As cemetery workers had not yet covered the coffin with soil, the officials were able retrieve it from the grave.