Maj. Kang Jae-gu stands as one of the enduring symbols of self-sacrifice in the history of the South Korean military.
While serving as a company commander with the 10th Company, 1st Regiment of the Tiger Division and training in Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon Province ahead of deployment to Vietnam, Kang threw himself on a grenade accidentally dropped by one of his soldiers, saving his men at the cost of his own life. He was 28. A memorial hall was later built on the site where he died, and his rank of major was conferred posthumously.
The Army's Capital Mechanized Infantry Division maintains a unit called the Jaegu Battalion to honor Kang's spirit and legacy.
The Kang Jae-gu Memorial Park, established in 1986, has drawn repeated complaints about deteriorating facilities and cramped space that pose inconvenience and safety concerns for visitors.
Residents of Hongcheon-gun want to renovate the memorial, but the Subsidy Management Act bars local governments from receiving national subsidies for patriotic memorial facility projects, making it difficult to secure the funding needed to move forward.
Hongcheon-gun Mayor Shin Young-jae visited the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans in 2025, meeting with a vice minister to request budget support for rebuilding the memorial hall. The ministry subsequently conducted an on-site inspection.
More recently, the Hongcheon-gun Veterans Organizations Council, led by chairman Park Si-yeol, launched a countywide petition drive calling for an amendment to the Subsidy Management Act that would allow national subsidies to fund the rebuilding of the memorial and renovation projects at local patriotic memorial facilities. The campaign has renewed momentum behind the push to rebuild.
The petition drive runs through Sept. 30. Signatures collected from residents will be submitted to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans and the Ministry of Planning and Budget to press the government once more for support for the reconstruction and for patriotic memorial facilities more broadly.
Hongcheon-gun plans to use the petition drive as an opportunity to renew public awareness of the need to rebuild the memorial honoring Kang's sacrifice, and will continue working to establish the legal framework needed to secure national support and advance the project.
"Maj. Kang Jae-gu's noble spirit of sacrifice is a precious value that all of Korea — not just Hongcheon — must remember and pass on to future generations," Mayor Shin said. "Hongcheon-gun has been consistently calling on the government to support the rebuilding of the memorial, and I will do my utmost to ensure that the will of our residents expressed through this petition translates into real institutional reform and national support."
Council chairman Park Si-yeol urged residents, civic organizations, township offices and military units across Hongcheon-gun to join the petition drive. "We hope to pass on Maj. Kang Jae-gu's noble spirit of sacrifice to future generations and see the memorial rebuilt into a space truly worthy of that legacy," he said.
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