hankyoreh

before being buried at Daejeon National Cemetery. (Blue House photo pool)

By Ha Eo-young, staff reporter

The remains of 12 South Korean military personnel excavated by the United States military in North Korea have been returned to South Korea. This is the first time since the 1953 ceasefire in the Korean War that the remains of South Korean servicemen have been returned from the North. 　

“From among remains of [South Korean] personnel killed in action and excavated in North Korea by the United States’ Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command (JPAC), 12 identified jointly by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense’s remains identification team and confirmed as remains of [South Korean] army personnel killed in action have been returned on a special air force aircraft from Hawaii,” the Ministry of National Defense (NMD) stated on Friday.

Those killed in action were members of Korean Augmentation to the United States (KATUSA) forces at the time of the Korean War, and died in battles such as at the Chosin Reservoir. The Battle of Chosin Reservoir took place when troops from the US 7th Infantry Division and 1st Marine Division were surrounded by the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army at Chosin Reservoir on the Kaema Plateau in South Hamgyeong Province, North Korea and ended up with many men killed and wounded in the process of breaking their way out in bitterly cold weather. Among the 12 sets of remains, those of Privates First Class (PFC) Kim Yong-su and Lee Gap-su, who were attached to the 7th Infantry Division’s 15th Tank Battalion, have been positively identified and will soon be buried at Daejeon National Cemetry. The NMD is currently working to identify remains from ten soldiers.

In photographs, PFC Lee Gap-su is still a young man. Returning 62 years later, his daughter and son are now both past their 60th birthdays. Lee’s 69-year-old daughter, Lee Suk-ja, was unable to finish her sentences. “When it rained, my father would take me to school on his back, saying my feet would get wet,” she said. “I remember him back then, maybe because I was young, as being an extremely tall man. It was dawn one day. I think he got on an army truck with soldiers in order to go into battle.”

This was Lee’s last recollection of her father. His son, 65-year-old Lee Yeong-chan, unlike his elder sister, is unable to remember his father’s warmth. “I can’t even remember calling him father,” he says. He misses him, of course, just the same. He sobbed, saying, “I thought we might find him if unification took place. I can’t believe it.”

At the age of 34, older than most soldiers, Lee left his wife and young children and headed off to battle. The battle of the Chosin Reservoir, in which he fought after becoming part of the KATUSA forces within the US 7th Infantry Division, was his last. Lee was identified after his remains were excavated with a dog tag bearing his military service number.

Private First Class Kim Yong-su was identified using DNA left with the MND by his elder brother, who passed away last year. His nephew, Kim Hae-seung, 54, recounted his father’s memories of the war, which he had left behind like a testament. “My father and his younger brother joined the army together, but when my father suggested that they fall back together to the rear, [my uncle] said, ‘Go back and take care of the home. I’ll take care of here.’ That was the last thing my uncle said to my father. It seems like a miracle. Two years ago the army came to take a DNA sample from my father, but when he died last year, I abandoned hope.”

Kim joined the army at the young age of 18, as a student soldier, before being attached to the 7th Infantry Division and falling at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. His father, Kim In-ju, was an independence hero who fought against the Japanese occupation of Korea. He died in prison after being incarcerated for his resistance activities. Kim’s family received notice that he had died in battle but were unaware of the exact date. They chose September 9 as the day to hold his annual memorial service.

The families of the remaining 10 men have still not been found. “I hope the others find their families, too,” said Lee Gap-su’s son, Lee Yeong-chan. “They say there are still many remains left in North Korea, and the government must work harder so that they can come back to their hometowns, too.”

The number of South Korean military personnel, including those still missing in action, that died in the Korean War is around 130,000. The remains of around 30-40,000 of these men are presumed to be buried in North Korea or in the Demilitarized Zone, but the South Korean government is unable to even discuss excavations with the North. Privates First Class Kim and Lee were able to return after 62 years because they were attached to the US military as KATUSA forces. As relations between South and North Korea grow increasingly strained, even the US has been unable to resume excavation of the remains of servicemen.

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