That is a sad but interesting thing to learn. It's obvious people who do this are desparate.
People are not allowed into the cemetery at night. Korea used to be very poor until the late 1960s, but they used to gaurd places with guns back then and had military dictatorships. People still robbed from army bases, but getting caught wasn't fun.
Desperate times and desperate people my friend. However when they put other lives at risk by stealing the cast iron drain covers in the roads, then it becomes a dire situation. Syndicates organize the shipments of stolen metals from our country.
Great to see how Korea has advanced since the 60s.
I have heard of people trying to steal cables from live power mains there...even more dangerous.
I knew a US soldier who used to be posted in Korea during the late 1970s he said people would sneak on to military firing ranges and scramble to collect spent ammo shells from fired rounds. They risked ear damage from the noise. They would burn their hands picking it up because it was so hot. Shrapnel wounds were also very common. All for tiny pieces of scrap metal.
As an ex contractor I was the national manager for a company that worked on the live power cable towers my friend. Those big steel towers that one can see all over the world. I was told that a thief attached a saw blade to a long thin branch of a tree, climbed halfway up the tower and tried to cut one of the live cables. All that they found of him was one shoe and a piece of his watch.
Recently a fisherman caught fish under a bridge and his wet fishing rod tip was lifted near an low overhang of power cables. An arc struck his rod and he is still in hospital with very serious burns.
Just to tell you how dangerous it is.
I can believe your soldier tale as desperate people will do desperate things, but lately over here it is the drug use that drive them to do crazy things just so that they can buy their next fix.