hankyoreh

During a visit to Bogota, Colombia on May 5, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon announced that South Korea will do all that’s necessary to return the remains of Colombian soldiers who fought in the Korean War. Lee added that exhumation efforts to recover the remains of an estimated 60 Colombian soldiers are currently ongoing in the DMZ. The exhumation is part of the South Korean government’s effort to fulfill the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement, or the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), of 2018, but North Korea has yet to begin its exhumation project. Around 5,314 Colombian soldiers fought with US and South Korean forces against the Chinese in the Battle of Old Baldy, a 10-month series of engagements that lasted from 1952 to 1953. Among them, 213 died and 567 went missing.