War Remains

[Anchor Lead]

A ceremony was held Wednesday to bury the remains of South Korean forces killed during the Korean War at a national cemetery. In line with an agreement produced at the inter-Korean summit in September, the two Koreas launched a joint project to excavate the remains of soldiers who died in the war. The remains of those excavated in the latest project were also laid to rest Monday.

[Pkg]

from worn-out combat boots to a perforated canister and an identification tag with a clear English inscription, These are articles left by soldiers who died at hard-fought battles during the Korean War. A ceremony was held at the Seoul National Cemetery to bury the remains of 365 South Korean soldiers killed during the Korean War. Twelve of the newly buried soldiers were found at Hwasal Meori Goji Height in the Demilitarized Zone. At a summit held in Pyongyang in September, the heads of the two Koreas agreed on a project to jointly excavate the remains of Korean war dead in the Demilitarized Zone.

[Soundbite] Choi Jong-kun(Pres. Secretary for Peace and Arms Control (Sep.19)) : "The agreement on the excavation of war dead shows the government's determination not to forget its responsibility for soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation."

The twelve bodies were found, including Sergeant Park Jae-kwon, during the preliminary work of removing landmines and linking roads. The government expects that more bodies will be found from April next year when the excavation project is carried out in full scale with the arrival of spring. It seems that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's visit to Seoul, one of the agreements reached at the September inter-Korean summit, will not likely come by the year's end. However, the excavation project has produced meaningful outcomes before the new year.