S. Korea to resume war remains excavation project in DMZ next week

SEOUL, April 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will begin this year's war remains excavation project at a former battlefield near the border with North Korea next week, the defense ministry said Thursday, with Pyongyang remaining unresponsive to calls for joint work as agreed. Under a military tension reduction accord signed on Sept. 19, 2018, South and North Korea agreed to launch a joint project to retrieve remains of soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War from Arrowhead Ridge, one of the fiercest battlefields inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two sides. But the South has carried out the work alone since 2019 as the North has stonewalled calls for joint work. Excavation work is carried out usually between April and November, and this year's work is scheduled kick off Monday. The ministry said the excavation work at Arrowhead Ridge is expected to wrap up during the first half followed by the launch of excavation at another nearby battle site, White Horse Ridge. Along with Arrowhead Ridge, White Horse Ridge is where some of the most casualties were reported during the three-year war. The ministry said some 960 South Korean soldiers are estimated to have been killed at the site. "Recovery of remains of the United Nations Command (UNC) troops will also be possible as the ridge was a battlefield where service members from the United States, Belgium and Luxembourg fought alongside our troops," the ministry said in a release. The military will begin preparatory demining and construction work at White Horse Ridge and move onto actual excavation in the second half. South Korea has notified the North of the project's resumption, including its plan to expand the mission area. In the past two years, South Korea recovered a total of 2,335 bone fragments believed to have belonged to 404 troops killed in action, and nine of them have been identified so far. In support of the operations, UNC will provide an Australian rotational team "to ensure compliance with the terms of Armistice and facilitate access," the U.S.-led command said. "UNC remains committed to supporting and building confidence on the Korean Peninsula, and continues to work closely with the Republic of Korea government on all aspects of the UNC mission to support diplomatic efforts to maintain peace and security," it said in a release. Around 140,000 South Korean troops were killed in action and some 450,000 others injured during the war. The government estimates the number of fallen soldiers whose remains have yet to be recovered inside the DMZ to stand around 10,000. scaaet@yna.co.kr (END)