By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
The remains of a U.S. Navy officer killed in action in the 1950-53 Korean War have been identified and returned to his family for burial, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday.
U.S. Navy Ensign Robert Langwell of Columbus, Indiana, had been recorded as missing in action but his remains were found in April last year during joint excavation work by U.S. and South Korean war remains recovery teams in North Gyeongsang Province. The remains were returned to the U.S. in September.
The remains will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery July 12, the ministry said in a statement.
Langwell was on board the minesweeper USS Magpie when it sank after hitting a mine off South Korea's southeast coast on Oct. 1, 1950. Twelve sailors were rescued, but Langwell and 20 others went missing.
In 2008, the ministry received a report from a local elderly fisherman that he and other villagers buried the remains of a U.S. sailor after they were caught in a fishing net.
Last year, the ministry's search team located the burial site and recovered the human remains and military artifacts. The team sent them to the U.S. military for forensic analysis, according to the ministry.
Seoul and Washington have jointly searched and identified remains believed to be those of South Korean and U.S. soldiers killed in the war.
So far, South Korea has returned seven sets of remains of American soldiers to the U.S. military and two sets have been identified, including those of Langwell, the ministry said.
Some 8,024 U.S. service members are still listed as missing in South Korea from the war, it said.