The Ministry of National Defense announced that on the morning of the 15th, a joint enshrinement ceremony for 141 remains of Korean War soldiers discovered this year was held at the Seoul National Cemetery, presided over by Prime Minister Kim Min-seok. The ceremony was attended by key figures such as the Minister of National Defense, the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the Acting Commissioner of the National Police Agency, as well as veterans association president Shin Sang-tae and soldiers who directly participated in the excavation. The ceremony included a report on the progress of the excavation, religious rituals, flower offerings, incense burning, and the transfer of the remains.
The joint enshrinement ceremony is a temporary event to enshrine remains whose identities have not yet been confirmed until their families are found. The 141 remains discovered this year have not yet been identified. The Korean War remains excavation project began in 2000 as part of the 50th-anniversary commemoration of the Korean War, and to date, over 11,000 remains have been recovered, with 268 identified and returned to their families.
In 2020, the Ministry of National Defense expanded and reorganized the excavation and identification team, and in 2021, opened an identification center dedicated to all processes of storage, examination, and DNA analysis to improve efficiency. This year’s excavation took place from March to the end of November in 34 battle sites of the Korean War, including Cheorwon and Inje in Gangwon Province, Paju, Pocheon, and Yeoncheon in Gyeonggi Province, and Chilgok and Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province.
Despite difficult conditions such as mountainous terrain and bad weather, soldiers from the Ministry of National Defense’s excavation and identification team and 30 division and brigade-level units recovered 141 remains with the determination to find their heroic predecessors. Additionally, the excavation of remains at Baengma-goji in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which was suspended in 2022, was resumed under safe conditions, recovering 25 remains from our side.