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[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Saturday, March 11, 2006

Army to Recover Korean War Remains in DMZ

The Korea Times, Friday, March 10, 2006By Lee Jin-woo, Staff Reporter

The South Korean Army plans to collect testimonies and evidence from witnesses as part of its effort to recover the long-buried remains of South Korean soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), who were killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.

Starting this month, the Army will cooperate with private companies, local governments and relevant authorities to publicize recovery efforts and receive tip-offs from the public.

``This is part of our project to recover remains nationwide, which was initiated in 2000,’’ Lt. Colonel Son Byung-hwan of the Army told The Korea Times.

``We will try our best to provide enough information and evidence to a new committee, which will be affiliated with the Defense Ministry. The committee will carry out the actual excavation work next year.’’

Son added the Army will no longer just rely on reports from the public, but will start gathering information by deploying its officers.

He said since 2000 the Army has succeeded in recovering the remains of some 1,300 soldiers, which were mostly requested by bereaved families or residents in related areas.

The Army plans to select certain sites, which are supposed to have a considerable number of remains, by the end of this year after gathering information.

It will also start excavating corpses beginning March 20 in seven selected areas nationwide, including Chilgok in North Kyongsang Province. The excavations will continue for some seven months.

``If the inter-Korean military talks are stabilized on a regular basis in the future, the recovery of remains will be tabled on the agenda. It might be possible for us to start unearthing remains in the DMZ and possibly in the North Korean territory under an agreement with the North,’’ the Army official said.

Earlier this year, general-level officers’ talks between the two Koreas ended without any arrangements to prevent armed conflict in their disputed sea border on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula.

The discussions, the first of their kind in nearly two years, bogged down as North Korea stuck to its long-standing position that the dispute would not be resolved unless a new border is drawn further south away from its coast.

In two previous rounds of general-level talks, the two sides agreed on a set of tension-reducing measures such as dismantlement of propaganda facilities along their land border, but those agreements were not fully implemented.

Inter-Korean relations have warmed considerably since the 2000 summit, but tension persists along the heavily fortified border. The two Koreas are still technically in a state of war since the Korean War ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.



things@koreatimes.co.kr

03-10-2006 17:52