REMAINS OF KOREAN WAR SOLDIER IDENTIFIED

[Anchor Lead]

The remains of a Korean War soldier found in the DMZ have been identified and returned to his family. A wife who had waited for her husband to return from the frontline all her life is now in her 90s. She was deeply moved to have finally received her husband's remains.

[Pkg]

​Arrowhead Hill in the demilitarized zone in Cheorwon, Gangwon-do Province, was a site of fierce battles during the Korean War, where scores of soldiers perished. Last year, the remains that presumably belonged to a South Korean army soldier were found here. His spoon was also found at the site.

[Soundbite] LIM JUNG-MIN(MINISTRY OF DEFENSE WAR REMAINS EXCAVATION TEAM) : "At the top of the spoon there is a Chinese character meaning "happiness." Below two syllables of the soldier's name and a part of the third one are engraved."

A DNA test revealed that the remains belong to late Staff Sergeant Kim Jin-goo. He fought in the Korean War in 1952 and was killed just two weeks before the armistice was signed. His son submitted his DNA sample last year in a last-ditch effort to find his father's remains.

[Soundbite] KIM DAE-RAK(SON OF LATE STAFF SERGEANT KIM JIN-GOO) : "My mother wanted her remains to be scattered after her death because my father's remains had not been found. But now that we have found them she is so elated that she cannot sleep at night."

Staff Sergeant Kim's remains have been returned to his 90-year-old widow after 67 years. She still remembers how her husband asked her to send him a picture of their son while he was fighting in the war.

[Soundbite] LEE BUN-AE(WIDOW OF LATE STAFF SERGEANT KIM JIN-GOO) : "He asked me to take a picture of our son and send it to him. It was a small photo. He replied that he had received it."

So far, seven sets of remains discovered in the DMZ have been identified. More than ten thousand more have yet to be excavated. Although South and North Korea had agreed to conduct joint excavations of war remains, the North has been uncooperative so far.