South Korea launches this year's war remains excavation project at DMZ battle site

South Korea on Wednesday started this year's project to excavate the remains of soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War on a key former battlefield within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, the defense ministry said.

Following a three-year suspension, the military resumed the excavation project at the White Horse Ridge in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, last year in line with the Lee Jae Myung government's efforts to mend frayed ties with North Korea.

The White Horse Ridge was one of the fierce battle sites during the three-year conflict on the Korean Peninsula, with a number of dead and missing from the Korean forces known to be buried in the area.

A task force, comprising the 5th Infantry Division and an agency under the defense ministry with soldiers and experts, will remove land mines and secure a safe path for excavation work before surveying the area for remains.

The military has so far retrieved 92 sets of war remains at the White Horse Ridge in 2021-22, according to the ministry.

The ministry said it is "closely coordinating" with the United Nations Command regarding the resumption of the retrieval work, while vowing to return the last remaining remains to their family members.

The project, which began as part of a now-suspended military tension reduction accord signed by Seoul and Pyongyang in 2018, had been suspended under the previous conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration due to heightened safety concerns from deteriorating inter-Korean ties.

In 2019, South Korea began work to retrieve the remains at Arrowhead Ridge, another former battlefield inside the DMZ, and later expanded such efforts to White Horse Ridge.