IDENTIFICATION OF WAR SOLDIER

[Anchor Lead]

Since the conclusion of inter-Korean military agreement on September 19th, efforts to recover remains of South Korean soldiers killed during the Korean War have been underway at Arrowhead Hill in the Demilitarized Zone. Now the remains of one soldier have been identified as Sergeant First Class Namgung Seon who was killed in action 66 years ago. The DNA of his son, who was only three years at the time, was critical in identifying the remains.

[Pkg]

Excavation of remains is carried out inside the Demilitarized Zone for the first time since the Korean War armistice. A complete set of remains presumed to be that of a South Korean soldier was recovered inside a dugout.

[Soundbite] "It's presumed to be a South Korean soldier because this is a helmet worn by the South Korean military."

An arm bone was discovered first in April then, the rest was unearthed after another month of excavation. It took another two months to identify the remains. They belonged to late Sergeant Namgung Seon. The father of two enlisted in April 1952 at the age of 23 to fight in the Korean War. He was killed in action while combating the Chinese army on July 9th, 1953, just 18 days before the armistice was signed. His comrades, who couldn't bring back his body, documented his death instead. It was recorded that they couldn't collect the remains because his body was blown to pieces at the scene. The location of his body was marked on the document. No dog tag was discovered when the bones were first unearthed. But the Ministry of National Defense referred to the old report and compared the DNA with the genetic information registered by his family to conclude that the remains belonged to Sergeant Namgung. His son, who was only three years old when the sergeant fought in the war, had registered his DNA sample 11 years ago in 2008.

[Soundbite] HEO WOOK-GU(MND AGENCY FOR KIA RECOVERY & IDENTIFICATION) : "His homecoming ceremony will be held before Chuseok. After that, his remains will be interred at the Daejeon National Cemetery."

Since the recovery project began in the Demilitarized Zone following the inter-Korean military agreement signed on September 19th, roughly 1,400 pieces of remains and 43,000 articles of the deceased were discovered. This is the second set of remains that has been identified, following those of the late Sergeant Park Jae-kwon.