This undated file photo, provided by Seoul’s veterans ministry on Oct. 26, 2023, shows the late Leon Bosquet, a Belgian veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — A late Belgian veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War will be laid to rest in South Korea’s southeastern city of Busan next month, Seoul’s veterans ministry said Thursday.
A burial ceremony for Leon Bosquet will take place on Nov. 15 at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, after his death in his home country on Feb. 4 at the age of 94, according to the ministry.
Bosquet, who was dispatched to the war twice as part of the Belgian troops that supported South Korea, had expressed wishes to be buried in South Korea to his daughter.
His remains will arrive at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, on Friday, with the ministry set to hold a ceremony to mark Bosquet’s return.
They will temporarily be kept at Seoul National Cemetery in southern Seoul before being transferred to the U.N. cemetery in Busan for the burial next month.
It marks the first time a Belgian veteran of the war will be laid to rest at the cemetery, the ministry said.
Belgium was among the 22 countries that sent troops or gave medical aid to South Korea under the U.N. flag during the Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
The country dispatched a total of 3,498 service members during the war, with 99 of them being killed in action, according to ministry data.
A total of 2,320 troops are currently buried at the memorial cemetery in Busan.
(Yonhap)
