The South Korean military on Saturday concluded the excavation of Korean War remains inside the demilitarized zone for this year.

Initially, the two Koreas agreed to conduct a joint excavation in the Arrowhead Ridge area in the DMZ but the South proceeded on its own after North Korea gave no response to the joint project.

Over two thousand pieces of remains have been found during the excavation since April which are believed to belong to 261 sets of remains.

It's the first time remains have been uncovered in the DMZ since the end of the Korean War.

Around 40 percent of the originally planned excavation at Arrowhead Ridge has been completed so far and the Defense Ministry plans to continue the work next year.

The ministry previously stressed it is prepared to conduct joint operation with North Korea at any time as agreed to in the inter-Korean military accord signed in September 2018. 

During the excavation, the military also removed hundreds of landmines, blind shells, and even collected 35 tons of iron debris.