A group of Korean American students from the Hwarang Youth Foundation will visit Rosedale Cemetery near Koreatown, Los Angeles, on May 24 to clean and document the graves of Korean independence activists. The effort is part of a broader Korean American youth history project aimed at preserving historical memory through hands-on engagement.
“Classroom lessons aren’t enough—students need to feel history in the field,” said Yoonsook Park, president of the Hwarang Youth Foundation, in an May 22 interview. “As we mark the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation, learning directly from the resting places of those who fought for independence creates a much deeper connection.”
National Cemetery Repatriation Is the Ultimate Goal
Park emphasized that the project’s purpose goes far beyond grave cleaning. “Our final goal is to identify and restore the graves of independence activists in the U.S. and ultimately repatriate them to Korea’s national cemetery,” she said. “This is a long-term, sustainable history preservation initiative—not a one-time campaign.”
Many graves remain undiscovered or deteriorated. Some headstones have eroded so severely that names are unreadable. The foundation is working with funeral and restoration professionals to develop methods for recovering and preserving these sites.
“We’re consulting experts to find the best way to restore damaged headstones,” Park explained. “With active chapters in 20 states, we plan to leverage our national infrastructure to locate and care for independence activists’ graves across the U.S., not just in LA.”
To support this mission, the foundation has created a dedicated research team to locate grave sites, gather biographical data, and compile the findings into a structured database for long-term tracking.
History Starts at Home, Park Says
Partnering with the Korean National Association Memorial Foundation, the Hwarang Youth Foundation has already launched related educational programs such as the Dosan Ahn Chang-ho History School, while also volunteering to maintain Korean American historical monuments like the Glendale Comfort Women Statue and the Fullerton Korean War Veterans Monument.
Park also emphasized the role of the current generation in preserving cultural knowledge: “If we look around, the traces of Korean American history are everywhere, but the fact that we haven’t properly passed them down is our collective failure,” she said. “If adults don’t know this history, how can we expect the next generation to?”
She added, “Without historical awareness, labels like ‘second-generation’ or ‘third-generation’ Korean American become meaningless.”
In a symbolic gesture of intergenerational learning, many parents will join their children during the May 24 event to pull weeds around graves and share stories about Korea’s struggle for independence.
The project is jointly organized by The Korea Daily (JoongAng Ilbo USA), the Korean National Association Memorial Foundation, and the Hwarang Youth Foundation. It is sponsored by Bank of Hope, the largest Korean American regional bank in the United States.
BY YOUNGCHE SONG [song.youngche@koreadaily.com]
