SEOUL– The military has identified the remains of a South Korean soldier killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, about a decade after their excavation from a former battle site, the defense ministry said Friday.
The ministry’s excavation team found the remains of Pfc. Ahn Seung-won in Seongnam, south of Seoul, in 2012. They were identified as his thanks to a DNA sample his younger sister had registered with the government.
Ahn’s remains were discovered along with those of two other troops. One of them was identified in December as those of Sfc. Park Dong-ji. The troops are thought to have died during a battle in July 1950.
South Korea has identified the remains of 184 fallen soldiers killed in the conflict since the excavation work began in 2000.
Around 140,000 South Korean troops were killed in action, and about 450,000 others were injured during the war. The number of South Korean troops whose remains have yet to be recovered is estimated at around 123,000.
Source: Yonhap News Agency