During the initial invasion, Korean general Jeong Mun-bu formed a volunteer army that won eight victories between 1592 and 1594 against an army of 20,000 Japanese led by General Katō Kiyomasa in the Hamgwallyong Pass area of Hamgyong Province, during Kato's Hamgyong campaign.

Despite requests by the South Korean government and civic groups that the monument be returned, Japan refused, stating that doing so violated their principle of "separation of religion and politics" and that as the monument originally stood in what was now North Korea, South Korea was not in a position to negotiate its return.

The deadlock was finally broken in December 2004, when Buddhist monks from North and South Korea agreed to work together to retrieve the monument.

On 12 October 2005, a brief ceremony attended by priests of the shrine, representatives of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and officials from the embassy of South Korea was held at the monument to turn over control.

[2] On 28 February 2006, a ceremony was held before the tomb of General Jeong Mun-bu in Gyeonggi Province before its return north.