(LEAD) S. Korea resumes war remains excavation project at DMZ battle site

▲ This April 10, 2020, file photo, provided by Korea Heritage Service, shows officials taking part in a project to retrieve the remains of soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War at Arrow Head Ridge in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) military-DMZ excavation

(LEAD) S. Korea resumes war remains excavation project at DMZ battle site

(ATTN: ADDS U.N. Command statement, details throughout)

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- The military on Wednesday resumed a project to excavate the remains of South Korean soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War at a former battlefield in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as part of efforts to ease inter-Korean military tension, the defense ministry said.

The move came as the Lee Jae Myung government has been seeking to mend frayed ties with North Korea and taken measures such as dismantling loudspeakers for propaganda broadcasts along the border.

The government has also vowed to seek a preemptive and phased restoration of an inter-Korean military tension reduction pact suspended under the previous government in the face of North Korea's trash balloon campaign last year.

"As part of measures to reduce inter-Korean military tension, the defense ministry has resumed as of Wednesday the excavation of war remains at White Horse Ridge in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, that was halted in 2022," the ministry said.

"This is part of efforts to return the remains of soldiers killed in the Korean War to their families ... and a practical measure aimed at making the DMZ into a peace zone," it said.

Under a now-suspended military tension reduction accord signed in 2018, Seoul and Pyongyang had agreed to launch a joint project to retrieve remains of soldiers killed during the Korean War from former battlefields inside the DMZ separating the two sides.

In 2019, South Korea began work to retrieve the remains at Arrowhead Ridge and later expanded such efforts to White Horse Ridge, but the move had been suspended since November 2022 due to safety concerns triggered by deteriorating inter-Korean ties.

The North has not responded to calls for joint work.

Through the excavation works conducted at the two areas, the military has retrieved the remains of 424 soldiers from Arrowhead Ridge and 67 soldiers from White Horse Ridge, respectively.

The two sites were among the fiercest battlefields during the three-year conflict where the most casualties were reported.

The U.S.-led U.N. Command (UNC), which oversees activities inside the DMZ, welcomed the resumption.

"UNC actively supports remains recovery operations within the DMZ as a practical risk-reduction initiative," it said in a statement.

"The resumption of remains recovery operations in the DMZ reflects the ongoing cooperation between UNC and the Republic of Korea military in a wide range of areas including Armistice implementation and tension reduction measures," it said.

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