China to unveil monument for Korean Liberation Army in Xi`an

A memorial stone commemorating the former barracks of Korea’s Liberation Army will be erected in Xi`an, Shaanxi Province, the center of China’s western territory development, as early as late this month. The erection of a monument was requested to Shaanxi Governor Zhao Zhengyong by President Park Geun-hye, when she visited the region in June last year, and accepted by the Chinese side. The monument is expected to become another symbol of friendly ties between Korea and China after the Patriot Ahn Jung-geun memorial hall, which opened at Harbin City in January this year.

This reporter visited a location in front of the bus stop for a grain warehouse in Duqu township in Chang`an district of Xi`an at 3 p.m. on Friday. The place, former warehouse, was being surrounded with grayish blue brick fence in a rectangular form standing about 3 meters high.

A purple-colored tall gate with black roof tiles on top of Chinese-style red pillars was tightly locked with steel chain and lock. This reporter peeked through bars of a window at the center of the fence, to find 2,000 sq. meter property transforming into a small and tidy garden, which includes grass field, ground, walk path and gardening trees. At the center of the garden, a monumental stone covered with pink clothes was seen erected inside a square pavilion standing about 3 or 4 meters high with four red pillars. This is the "monumental stone for District 2 of Liberation Army of the Republic of Korea’s Interim Government" during Japan’s colonial rule. The monument could only be viewed through the fence because Beijing declined to publicize the contents of epitaphs on the stone before the official unveiling.