Remains of U.S. soldier killed in Korean War repatriated: official

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- The remains of an American soldier killed in the
Korean War have been handed over to the United States after being discovered by a
joint team of South Korean and U.S. excavators earlier this year, an official
said Monday.
The remains, which included the teeth of a sergeant believed to have died in
Cherwon, 88 km northeast of Seoul, in 1951, were sent to the U.S. on Saturday for
further identification, Col. Park Shin-han said.
"We concluded last month he fought as part of the U.S. 24th infantry division,"
he said.
Park declined to further identify the soldier as the Hawaii-based U.S. Joint
Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command (JPAC) has yet to confirm
it.
The handover marked the second time this year that the remains of a U.S. soldier
killed in the 1950-53 conflict have been repatriated.
About 8,100 American soldiers remain unaccounted for from the war that ceased
effectively with a truce on July 27. Many of them are believed to be buried on
the North Korean side of the peninsula.
JPAC officials withdrew from the communist state in 2005 when North Korea
boycotted six-nation denuclearization-for-aid talks and exited a non-nuclear
proliferation pact, raising regional tensions.
The latest remains were found along with an identification tag, Park said. The
remains of seven U.S. soldiers have been found and repatriated since 2000 when
the excavation by the South Korean military began.
Dozens of JPAC and South Korean excavators have been working at sites across
South Korea since May in an effort to find the remains of more U.S. soldiers
missing in the Korean War.
The U.S., which fought under the U.N. command, maintains a force of some 28,500
troops in South Korea as a deterrent against North Korea.
samkim@yna.co.kr