Government to Identify Unclaimed Fallen Soldiers at National Cemeteries
South Korean officials announced plans to identify all unclaimed fallen soldiers buried at national cemeteries using military conscription records and other data. The effort aims to register them as national meritorious service personnel and bestow state honors. The project will start at Seoul National Cemetery before expanding to Daejeon National Cemetery and 19 other state-managed sites.
cnet.comThe government will try to identify all unclaimed fallen soldiers buried at national cemeteries and bestow state honors on them, officials said Thursday. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said they will look into military conscription records and all other available data to check the identities of all those fallen soldiers and honor them as national meritorious service personnel.
The rights commission has been in discussions on the matter with the patriots ministry after confirming in August last year that an Army major buried at a national cemetery had not been registered as a state-honored hero because he had no family members to file for the recognition.
The project will begin with those buried at the Seoul National Cemetery and expand to the Daejeon National Cemetery and 19 other state-managed cemeteries, the rights commission said. Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans were killed during the 1950-53 Korean War. It is unclear how many sets of remains buried at national cemeteries have not been claimed.
