This undated photo, provided by the veterans ministry, shows a lighting ceremony honoring fallen service members at Daejeon National Cemetery in the central city, about 140 kilometers south of Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The veterans ministry said Tuesday it will hold a lighting ceremony in Seoul this week to honor South Korean service members killed during military clashes with North Korea while defending the western maritime border.
The three-day ceremony will begin Wednesday evening at Cheonggye Plaza in central Seoul, illuminating 55 beams of light symbolizing the 55 sailors and Marines killed in major clashes with North Korea near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) — the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas.
The lights will be illuminated each evening from 8 p.m. to 8:55 p.m. and conclude Friday, which marks this year’s West Sea Defense Day, paying tribute to those who fell defending the NLL.
Waters near the NLL have been a flashpoint between the two Koreas, where three bloody naval skirmishes took place in 1999, 2002 and 2009. The 2002 clash left six South Korean sailors killed.
In March 2010, Pyongyang torpedoed a South Korean warship near the boundary, killing 46 sailors on board. Another service member died during rescue operations. In November that year, the North bombarded the South’s border island of Yeonpyeong, killing two Marines and two civilians.
(Yonhap)
