The Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday that its annual excavation work for the remains of South Korean soldiers who fell during the 1950-53 Korean War will kick off in Gapyeong, east of Seoul, next Monday.
This year's excavation will continue through Nov. 10 in fiercely contested areas during the war, the ministry said.
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(Yonhap) |
Some 100,000 soldiers will participate in the eight-month project with a goal of excavating about 700 remains of soldiers killed during the war and identifying them for return to their families, the defense ministry said in a statement.
The excavation project began in 2000 which marked the 50th year since the beginning of the three-year war that ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953, the statement said.
The military has excavated the remains of a total of 9,500 soldiers in the past 16 years and returned the remains of 118 soldiers to their families after undergoing an identification process, it said. (Yonhap)