S. Korea, Mongolia sign MOU to preserve Lee Tae-jun Memorial Park

South Korea's Ministry of Patriots and Veterans announced Friday that Minister Kwon O-eul signed a memorandum of understanding with Mongolian Minister of Environment and Climate Change Tsend Sandakhjargal on Thursday (local time) on the preservation, management and promotion of visits to the Lee Tae-jun Memorial Park, in the presence of President Lee Jae Myung, who was on a state visit to Mongolia, and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.

Lee Tae-jun was a Korean independence activist who served as the personal physician to the last emperor of Mongolia and is regarded as a symbolic figure in the friendship between the two countries. The MOU aims to expand cooperation for the permanent preservation and management of the Lee Tae-jun Memorial Park — a historic site of Korea's independence movement located in Ulaanbaatar — and to strengthen veterans affairs exchanges between the two nations.

Under the agreement, South Korea and Mongolia plan to expand practical exchanges and cooperation, including holding regular meetings for the systematic preservation and management of the memorial park, designating official liaisons, and pursuing collaboration with relevant government agencies and private organizations.

"This MOU with the Mongolian government will serve as a meaningful occasion to preserve the legacy of Lee Tae-jun, who devoted himself to his country's independence and universal humanitarian values in a distant land, and to pass on the history of solidarity between our two nations intact to future generations," Kwon said. "Starting from this agreement, I will do my utmost to ensure that our longstanding ties with Mongolia grow stronger and that we become partners in future cooperation through veterans affairs."

President Lee visited the Lee Tae-jun Memorial Park on Friday (local time), paying his respects at a symbolic grave and touring the memorial hall — the first visit by a South Korean head of state since the hall officially opened in September 2025. About 20 people attended, including Minister Kwon, foreign affairs and security officials, the South Korean ambassador to Mongolia, representatives of the local Korean community and Mongolian government officials.

In the guest book, Lee wrote that he would "carry on the noble spirit of martyr Lee Tae-jun into a golden era of Korea-Mongolia relations," reaffirming his commitment to bilateral cooperation.

Following the visit to the memorial hall and a meeting with the local Korean community, Lee was set to continue the second day of his state visit with meetings with the speaker of the Mongolian parliament and the prime minister, as well as a dinner hosted by the Mongolian president.