Seoul: South Korea and the United States commenced a collaborative project on Tuesday aimed at locating the remains of American soldiers who lost their lives or went missing during the 1950-53 Korean War, as announced by Seoul's defense ministry.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the initiative is a joint effort between South Korea's Agency for KIA Recovery and Identification and the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). The project is set to run until June 26, targeting six different sites across South Korea. The locations were carefully selected based on historical data and eyewitness reports.

The investigation team, consisting of approximately twelve personnel, will focus their efforts on Hongcheon County in Gangwon Province and Yangpyeong County in Gyeonggi Province. These areas were significant battlegrounds where U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division faced heavy casualties due to a Chinese offensive in 1951.

Additional search sites include Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province and Yeongdong County in North Chungcheong Province. Local residents in these regions have provided accounts of witnessing American soldiers being killed or buried, which guides the current search efforts.

This collaborative search marks the preliminary phase of a larger excavation initiative. The allies plan to launch a more extensive excavation project after analyzing the results of this search, aiming to identify and locate the burial sites of war remains.

In recent efforts, South Korea conducted a similar search in the Gangneung and Yangyang areas of Gangwon Province. This was in preparation for an upcoming joint underwater excavation project with the U.S., scheduled for August.