Anchor: A ceremony was held in Hawaii to repatriate the remains of 147 South Korean soldiers who were killed in the Korean War. The remains of the war heroes were initially brought to the U.S. from North Korea, which was not able to identify their nationality at the time of their excavation.
Kim Bum-soo has more.
Report:
[Sound bite: Repatriation ceremony (June 23 / Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI, USA)]
The remains of 147 South Korean soldiers killed during the Korean War have returned home 67 years after the armistice.
The remains arrived in South Korea on Wednesday from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii where a joint repatriation ceremony was held by the South Korean and U.S. militaries.
During the solemn ceremony, South Korean Vice Defense Minister Park Jae-min and Adm. Phil Davidson, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, reaffirmed the alliance's continued efforts to find and honor the fallen warriors.
[Sound bite: S. Korean Vice Defense Minister Park Jae-min (Korean/English translation)]
"The Republic of Korea and the United States will continue their mutual cooperation to pursue the fulfillment of a nation's sacred duty to remember the sacrifices of the fallen warriors and to bring every last one home."
[Sound bite: Adm. Phil Davidson - Commander, US Indo-Pacific Command ]
"We honor them today as the embodiment of the ideals of our nations, those of our allies who fought as brothers in arms to deter aggression, defend sovereignty and protect individual human rights."
The plane carrying the remains was escorted by South Korean Air Force fighter jets as it entered Korean airspace.
The remains were part of 208 sets that North Korea repatriated to the U.S. in the mid 1990s as well as 55 sets sent after the first Washington-Pyongyang summit in 2018.
Including late private first class Ha Jin-ho, the identities of seven soldiers were confirmed among the repatriated sets that will be returned to their families in South Korea.
The defense ministry will work to identify the rest of the remains individually.
The South Korean government will hold an official welcoming ceremony for the remains on Thursday on the sidelines of a national event marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.
During the three-year conflict, more than 137-thousand South Korean troops and nearly 37-thousand UN troops were killed in action. Of the fallen South Korean soldiers, the remains of 123-thousand have yet to be found.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.