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The site where the remains of Chun Won-sik, who died in the Korean War, were discovered. (provided by the MND)

A woman in her 70s has finally received the remains of her father, who was killed in battle when she was just two years old.

Chun Won-sik was born on Dec. 4, 1925, in Daeseong Township, Cheongdo County, North Gyeongsang Province, the third of seven children. In 1951, in his mid-20s, he went to fight in the Korean War, leaving behind his farm, his wife, and their two-year-old daughter. Chun died on the battlefield, and his family never recovered his remains until now.

Information about Chun’s remains came from an unexpected source, a story that Song Sun-mok, a 73-year-old resident of Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, told a team from the Ministry of National Defense (MND) that’s in charge of recovering and identifying soldiers’ remains in 2014.

Song explained that, as a child, his family had talked about taking care of two soldiers who’d been injured in the Korean War. When the soldiers died, Song said, his family had apparently buried them in an open kiln site in the woods near the family burial grounds.

The next year, the team used this information to survey the area in question, near Mokdong Village, Buk (North) Township, Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province. They ended up finding the full remains of a soldier, including the skull. The dig also turned up 23 personal effects, including buttons, safety pins, and a comb. But at the time, the team wasn’t able to identify the soldier.

The MND’s remains recovery and identification team announced on Dec. 17 that it had identified the remains of the soldier found in 2015 as being Chun Won-sik.

In November 2019, the remains were compared with DNA from Chun’s daughter, now in her 70s, conclusively establishing the relationship between father and daughter, who had been separated for 69 years. Since the remains recovery project was launched in April 2000, it has managed to identify a total of 157 fallen soldiers from their remains.

Chun, who was a member of the 10th Regiment of the 8th Division of the ROK Army, was presumably killed in a battle near Gapyeong in February 1951.

“The ROK Army 8th Division, to which Chun belonged, was fighting a battle near Hoengseong, which is 60 kilometers away from where his remains were recovered. [His unit] appears to have moved toward Gapyeong while fighting Chinese troops during the January 4th Retreat,” the MND said.

“It’s still hard to believe this is real, but I’m very glad that my father has come back,” 73-year-old Chun Jeong-suk was quoted as saying by the MND.

In January 2021, Chun’s remains will be interred at the Seoul National Cemetery, following a ceremony to honor his heroism in the war.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

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