Seoul Pays Tribute to Moroccan Veterans of Korean War

Rabat – The Moroccan embassy in Seoul, Korea, paid tribute on Thursday to two Moroccan soldiers who gave their life in the Korean War in 1950-53.

The memorial ceremony, which shed light on shared history between Morocco and Korea, was held a few days after Memorial Day, an annual day that occurs on June 6 to commemorate all the soldiers and civilians who have contributed or died while serving the Republic of Korea.

Records revealed that the two Moroccan veterans who fought under the French UN battalion in Korea were Mohamed Benkaddour Lasri and Julien Djian; second class soldiers who died on July 4, 1953 and July 18, 1952, respectively.

According to records previously unearthed by the Korean embassy in Rabat, Djian Julian is of Moroccan-Jewish origins while Landri is believed to be from the city of Fez.

The sacrifices of the two soldiers is a testimony to the decades-long Moroccan-Korean unwavering friendship that has kept developing over the years.

According to documents from the UN Cemetery office, veteran Lasri was born in 1915 and died from injuries sustained during fighting on Hill 1037 in the Munchi region, about 200 km north of Wonju, in southwestern Korea.

Archives also revealed that soldier Djian, who was born in 1928, was seriously wounded in the head, chest, arm and leg during shelling in Gangwon province, near the current border with North Korea.

Djian died only 23 days before the Korean armistice agreement was proclaimed on July 27, 1953. The two soldiers rest alongside 2,300 other soldiers buried in Busan’s UN Cemetery.

Morocco’s Ambassador to Korea Chafik Rachadi said that the historical sacrifices of the Moroccan veterans have allowed the two countries to remain close, recalling king Mohammed VI’s continuous commitment to promote peace and coexistence.

The Korean Minister of Forests stressed the need to remember acts of nobility accomplished by the “hidden heroes” of the Korean War including Moroccan soldiers, in a speech delivered on his behalf by a representative from the ministry.

“The Republic of Korea would not have been the same without the sacrifice of these soldiers,” he said.

The Korean official also highlighted the distinguished diplomatic relations between Rabat and Seoul, recalling the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on forestry in 2018.

Several other personalities attended the ceremony, including representatives from the UN cemetery in Busan, who spoke of the soldiers’ remarkable sacrifices to fight for peace during a painful historical episode for the East Asian country.

With this finding, the two countries are keen to discover more of their shared history, especially since this year’s celebration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.

The commemoration ceremony was marked by the planting of two commemorative trees in honor of the deceased veterans.

The plant chosen was the hibiscus or “mugunghwa” in Korean, the national flower of the peninsula with a symbolic significance of “eternity,” which aims to represent the excellence of the six decades of ties and cooperation between the two nations.