By Jun Ji-hye
The remains of French Korean War veteran, Andre Belaval, will be interred at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Busan later this week, the Patriots and Veterans Affairs Ministry (PVAM) said Sunday.
The ministry said his body will arrive at Incheon International Airport Monday and temporarily lie in state at Seoul National Cemetery. Then, it will be moved to the U.N. cemetery in Busan and buried there, Thursday, in accordance with the veteran’s wish that he wanted to be laid to rest beside his comrades.
Belaval served in the 1950-53 Korean War with a French battalion as a radio operator. During his nine-year career in the military, he also fought in the Indo-China War.
He was a founding member of the Korea Foreign Legion association and served as its honorary chairman for 10 years. He helped many South Koreans settle in France after their tour of service and had maintained very close ties with the Korean community in the country, the ministry said.
“The veteran considered South Korea his second home and expressed a wish to be buried with those that died during the war before he passed away on July 2 at the age of 87,” the ministry said in a release.
The remains of Belaval will be received by Minster of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Sung-choon and the French Ambassador to South Korea Fabien Penone at the airport, the ministry added.
At the burial ceremony in Busan, senior officials from the two countries, as well as his son’s family, will be in attendance.
This marks the fifth individual burial ceremony to be held in the cemetery, the only place in the world where fallen U.N. servicemen are buried.
According to the ministry, 40,670 servicemen of the 21 U.N. allied nations were killed during the conflict, with 104,280 wounded and 4,116 missing. A total of 23,000 U.N. servicemen were laid to rest at the U.N. cemetery.