Remains of Korean War soldiers discovered in S. Korea's southeast

By Sam Kim

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- The military said Tuesday it has excavated the remains of scores of soldiers believed to have fallen during the Korean War in South Korea's southeastern coastal region nearly six decades ago.

"They are believed to be either North or South Korean troops," a Joint Chiefs of
Staff (JCS) official said, adding the remains of four South Korean marines were
among the 79 discovered at a mountain in Pohang, a port city about 370 kilometers
southeast of Seoul.
Millions of soldiers and civilians on either side died during the 1950-53 war.
Since 2000, South Korea has discovered the remains of 2,800 soldiers believed to
have died in the war that also left 8,100 American troops unaccounted for.
In January, South Korea opened a lab in Seoul to lead the excavation and identify
those discovered. Less than 100 South Korean soldiers have been identified so
far.
The latest discovery came after a retired marine tipped the military about where
he buried his fallen comrades during a weeks-long battle in 1950, the JCS
official said.
Marines conducted a seven-week-long excavation in the area until last week and
also found some 800 personal items believed to have belonged to fallen soldiers,
the official said.
South Korea's 3rd Infantry Division and North Korea's 5th Infantry Division
collided in the area as the communist state's army charged southward toward the
nearby port city of Busan.
North Korean forces were repelled when the U.S.-led United Nations troops landed
on Korea's western coast. South and North remain technically at war to this day
as their conflict ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.