Way Clear for Rangoon Bombing Memorial

South Korea and Burma are to conclude a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to build a memorial for the victims of the 1983 Rangoon bombing by North Korean agents that claimed the lives of 17 South Koreans and wounded 14.

Ambassador to Burma Lee Baek-soon and Thurein Thant Zin, chief of protocol of the Burmese Foreign Ministry, will sign the MOU that grants a plot in the Aung San National Cemetery to South Korea to build the memorial, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Monday.

"Originally, we planned to dedicate the memorial this year, the 30th anniversary of the Rangoon bombing, but it's been delayed a little due to the situation in Burma," a government official said. "But once the MOU was signed, we can break ground in the first quarter of next year and complete the construction in about two-and-a-half months."

The monument will be made of black concrete in South Korea and then shipped to Burma. It will be inscribed with the names and official titles of the 17 victims in Korean.

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