"In a sunlit valley swept clean by the smoke of battle, weathered by wind and rain through long years — an unknown, unknown grave marker. Left behind a childhood friend from a distant hometown, longing crystallized moss by moss into stone. / On a night when moonlight rides the echo of Gungnoru Mountain, a lone grave marker, weary from weeping in the silence. The innocent memories of those bygone days are sorrowful — grief hardened, stone by stone, into a mound."
Hwacheon-gun is home to the "bimok" — the very setting immortalized in "Bimok," a beloved Korean art song composed by Jang Il-nam. In the mid-1960s, a young officer discovered an unmarked stone grave of an unknown soldier in an overgrown valley on Baegamsan Mountain, north of Peace Dam. The lyrics he wrote to honor that soldier's spirit gave birth to the song.
Hwacheon's Bimok Park features a bimok tower, a stone grave monument representing the unknown soldier, a mountain magnolia sculpture and a song monument. The tower was erected with contributions from Hwacheon residents to honor those who gave their lives for the country during the Korean War. The park sits on a hill west of Peace Dam, offering views of both the dam and the shores of Paro Lake.
Nearby attractions include the No. 4 Infiltration Tunnel, Eulji Observatory, Paro Lake, Ttansan Recreation Area, Bungeo Island, Samil Valley and Haesan Observatory.
Paro Lake is where South Korean and allied forces won a decisive victory against Chinese troops during the war. A steep but short climb from the security exhibition hall leads to a hanok pavilion overlooking the lake. A national kayak competition was recently held on its waters, a reminder that the peace built on the sacrifice of fallen soldiers now allows such gatherings to take place.
Three symbols of the peace that followed the war — the bimok, Paro Lake and Peace Dam — all stand in Hwacheon. Visiting the county on Memorial Day amounts to a DMZ peace tour found nowhere else in the world.
Hwacheon-gun's public and civic organizations will hold the 71st Memorial Day commemoration at 10 a.m. Saturday at Chungnyeolto Tower in Hwacheon-eup, followed by visits to the Gumalli Memorial Tower and Bimok Park in Dongchon-ri.
The ceremony will include a moment of silence, a flower offering, incense burning, a commemorative address and a reading of a dedicatory poem by poet Oh Seong-ja.
For residents of border areas along the truce line and coastal fences, peace is a tangible benefit. Yet it is well known that certain forces have for decades exploited these historic sites — using them to stoke confrontation and manufacture crises for political gain — leaving border communities to live with the resulting anxiety.
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