South Korea and the U.S. to Search for U.S. Aircraft Wreckage off Boryeong Coast

Recovery of Remains of U.S. War Dead from the Korean War
Focus This Year on Three Areas Including Yanggu, Gangwon and Sangju, Gyeongbuk

The Ministry of National Defense will begin excavating the remains of U.S. military personnel who died in the areas of Yanggu, Gangwon; Sangju, Gyeongbuk; and Boryeong, Chungnam during the Korean War.

On the 17th, the Ministry of National Defense announced that a total of 11 investigators, including South Korean military personnel and American forensic anthropologists, will conduct excavation work until the 29th of this month to recover the remains of U.S. military personnel.

This excavation is based on the "Agreement on the Recovery of War Dead between the Republic of Korea and the United States," established by the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) since 2011. Based on this agreement, cooperation is provided annually to locate U.S. military remains.

The excavation area this year includes the site where the National Forensic Service investigators discovered presumed wreckage of a U.S. military aircraft last September. It is near the location where a lieutenant from the 27th Fighter Squadron, 522nd Fighter Squadron, assigned a reconnaissance mission during the Korean War, crashed while striking a target with an F-84E fighter jet. The Seokdae Island and Muchangpo areas in Boryeong, Chungnam, were regions where the U.S. Far East Command's 1st Airborne Assault Company conducted a diversionary operation to deceive the enemy in order to ensure the success of the Incheon Landing Operation. Three soldiers went missing in the battle; two were recovered in 1951, but one remains unaccounted for.

The Ministry of National Defense announced that from the 17th to the 29th, excavation efforts will be made to recover the remains of U.S. military personnel who died during the Korean War. The National Forensic Service Excavation and Identification Team (Gukyudan) will conduct excavations this year in Yanggu, Gangwon; Sangju, Gyeongbuk; and Boryeong, Chungnam. The United States has dispatched a total of 11 investigators, including forensic anthropologists, and Gukyudan has also sent specialized investigation personnel.

Separately from this investigation, the DPAA plans to conduct an underwater exploration in September around Haeundae, Busan, and Anmok Beach, Gangneung, Gangwon, to locate U.S. military aircraft and pilot remains that crashed during the Korean War. To this end, the DPAA will dispatch an underwater exploration team equipped with special equipment such as sonar (underwater acoustic detection devices).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.