S. Korea, Australia to launch joint war remains search next week

▲ This photo, provided by the defense ministry courtesy of the Australian War Memorial, shows Cpl. William Murphy, who served in the 1950-53 Korean War. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

S Korea-Australia-war remains

S. Korea, Australia to launch joint war remains search next week

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Australia will begin a monthlong project next week to excavate the remains of an Australian soldier who went missing while fighting during the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul's defense ministry said Friday.

The project between the ministry's Agency for KIA Recovery & Identification and the Australian Army's Unrecovered War Casualties (UWC-A) unit will run from Monday through May 22 in the northern county of Gapyeong, according to the ministry. KIA stands for killed in action.

Fourteen officials from the two agencies and dozens of troops from both countries will take part in efforts to locate the remains of Cpl. William Murphy, who was a member of the 27th Commonwealth Brigade that fought in a key battle in Gapyeong.

Some 2,000 troops of the brigade, comprising soldiers from Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, engaged in three days of fierce combat against Chinese forces in April 1951 at the height of the three-year war.

The ministry said it decided to launch the project on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Gapyeong battle to honor the noble sacrifice of those who served in the Korean War.

A total of 42 Australian soldiers still remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, with the remains of all but Murphy presumed to be located in North Korea, the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas or the Yellow Sea.

Murphy's remains will be laid to rest at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Busan, some 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, alongside 28 other Australian troops, should the joint team succeed in recovering his remains.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved