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| ▲ This photo, provided by the defense ministry, shows a meeting marking the launch of an excavation project this year to retrieve the remains of South Korean soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, held at the Air Force hotel in Seoul on Feb. 24, 2026. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
defense ministry-excavation project
Defense ministry aims to excavate remains of 200 Korean War soldiers in 2026
SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- The defense ministry on Tuesday announced plans to excavate the remains of 200 South Korean soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War this year.
The ministry also said it aims to secure 10,000 samples of genes from the bereaved family members and disclose the identities of 20 fallen soldiers.
In order to achieve this goal, the ministry plans to deploy some 100,000 personnel yearly to the excavation sites within a four-to-eight week period.
It also plans to establish a blueprint for the excavation project from 2027 to 2031 to ensure its continuity and secure additional genetic analyzers to facilitate the identification process.
Since the ministry launched the excavation project for Korean War remains in 2000, it has excavated 11,488 remains and confirmed the identities of 270 of them. Nearly 90 percent of the 133,192 soldiers still remain buried and are yet to be found, according to the ministry.
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