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Renovated Korean peace monument inaugurated
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Posted on Mar 19 2006
Saipan World Resort Hotel led the inauguration of the newly improved Korean peace monument in Marpi yesterday.
The monument, originally built in the early 1980s and dedicated to the estimated 5,000 Korean soldiers who died on Saipan during World War II, recently went through renovation.
The monument is now taller. The concrete material has been replaced with stone imported from Korea. The stairways leading to the memorial have also been improved. A gazebo is also being built to provide visitors a place to rest.
The project cost $200,000 courtesy of World Resort, which also opened its multimillion new hotel and water park facilities in Susupe during the weekend.
The opening ceremony for the new monument was attended by dignitaries from South Korea, including Oh Yoo Bang of South Korea’s National Diet and Cho Kyu Sang, chairman of South Korea-based World Construction Co. Ltd., which owns World Resort.
“Most of the Korean people who come to Saipan stop by this memorial. We want them to find a beautiful memorial, not something just made of concrete. We also did this for the local community,” said World Resort general B.K. Park.
Tony Benavente, assistant to Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela, thanked the Korean community for building the monument “to remind us all of the presence of your great-grandparents, relatives, and friends who built a prosperous economy during the colonial rule of the Japanese even before WWII.”
He added that the monument would also remind Koreans and local residents of the close relationship between Saipan and South Korea.
