Annual excavation of war dead to begin next week

SEOUL, March 7 (Yonhap) -- 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.

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.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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