Axe Murder Monument Memorial

 memorial, monument

This memorial sits at the site of the tree that sparked the Axe Murder Incident and Operation Paul Bunyan.

The Axe Murder Incident was the killing of two United States Army officers by North Korean soldiers on August 18, 1976 in the Joint Security Area (JSA) located in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which forms the de facto border between North and South Korea. The killings and the response (Operation Paul Bunyan) heightened tensions between North Korea and the United States of America / South Korea. The incident is also known as the Hatchet Incident and the Poplar Tree Incident.

In response to the Axe Murder Incident, the UN Command determined that instead of trimming the branches that obscured visibility, they would instead cut down the tree using an overwhelming force. The operation was conceived as a US/South Korean show of force, but was also carefully managed to prevent further escalation. The operation was planned over two days by General Richard Stilwell and his staff at the UNC headquarters in Seoul.