Expansion of Facilities for Storing Remains of 6.25 War Fallen Soldiers

On the morning of the 11th, task force (TF) chiefs of the South-North Joint Remains Excavation were conducting remains excavation work in the Hwaseolmari Hill area, our side within the Civilian Control Line in Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon Province. / Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu Reporter] An identification center for storing the remains of soldiers who died in the Korean War (6.25) will be newly constructed in October this year. Until now, the Ministry of National Defense's Remains Excavation and Identification Unit (Gukyudan) has stored three remains requiring identification in one box, drawing criticism for being disrespectful to the deceased and their families.

According to the military on the 21st, the temporary remains storage facility within Gukyudan, called 'Gukseonje (國宣悌)', has stored a total of 9,857 unidentified remains excavated from 2000 to the present. However, there are only 4,770 neutral pH boxes for storing remains, which is nearly half short of the required amount. Gukyudan's principle is to store one remain per neutral pH box. Due to lack of space, they have been storing three remains per box. The neutral pH box is a special container made of neutral pH material to prevent acidification of bones.

Considering that more remains will be excavated in the future, Gukyudan plans to establish an identification center by October this year. The identification center will be a three-story building above ground with one basement floor. It will include facilities such as a sample collection room and identification room for verifying the identity of remains.

Gukyudan expects that once the identification center is completed, it will be able to store 12,000 remains. This capacity will allow storing one remain per box, including both currently stored remains and those to be excavated in the future. Gukyudan also plans to significantly increase the remains investigation and exploration teams from the current 7 members (3 teams) to 21 members (7 teams). Additionally, the number of genetic identification personnel will be reinforced from 25 to 42.