Prologue
전장에서 돌아오지 못한 이들을 기억합니다.
(In the memory of those who could not return from the battlefields)
북한의 기습적 남침으로 시작된 6・25전쟁에 대한민국 수많은 젊은이들이 참전하였다. 그 중 16만 3천 명에 이르는 젊은이들이 희생되었다. 전쟁 중 2만 9천여
명의 유해가 수습되어 가족의 품으로 돌아갔지만, 13만 3천 명의 유해가 우리 산하에 남겨졌다. 격전지에 시신이 남겨진 전사자의 유해를 발굴해 신원확인을 하는 사업이 국방부 유해발굴감식단(2007년 창설, 이하 국유단)을 통해 이루어지고 있다. 국유단이 찾은 국군 전사자 유해는 9,500여 위이며, 2017년 4월까지 신원을 확인한 전사자는 121명이다.
Countless of young South Koreans were involved in fighting against North Korea in the Korean War, which was triggered by North Korea's unexpected attack
on South Korea. Of these Korean, around 163,000 young people lost their lives. During the war, 29,000 bodies were recovered and returned to their families. However, 133,000 bodies still remained somewhere within the country. Discovering their beloved family members' death via a single death notice letter, the families were forced to live with their loss. The MND Agency for KIA Recovery & Identification (Established in 2007) has been implementing a project to find and identify the remains of those people whose bodies could not be recovered from the fierce
battlefields. The agency has found 9,500 remains so far and have identified 121 people who lost their lives in the war.
Epilogue
마지막 한 사람까지 (Until the very last person is found)
국립서울현충원 경내 동편에는 국방부 유해발굴감식단 본관이 있다. 이곳에 아직도 전사자를 찾지 못한 지팡이를
의지한 가족이 찾아온다. 새로 발견한 유해 중에 혈육이 있을까 해서다. 살아갈 날이 얼마 남지 않았는데, 가족의 소식을 듣고 싶어서이다. 건물 오른편에는 국선제가 있다. 천정 높이까지 정중히모셔진1만여개의함에는번호만이 찾지 못한 이름을 대신해서 적혀있다. 아직도 찾지못한12만4천여명의전사자를찾기위해
오늘도 국유단 장병들은 깊은 산 골짜기와 능선을 걷는다.
The main building of the MND Agency for KIA Recovery & Identification is located on the East side of the National Cemetery in Seoul. The building is
still visited by elderly people relying on walking sticks who have not been able to find any remains of their family members as they wonder whether newly found remains could belong to their blood family members. They also do not have many years to live now due to old age and still they wait for some good news. On the right of the building is Gukseonje, a storage place for unidentified remains. The carefully kept 10,000 containers that are stacked together to the height of the ceiling have numbers instead of names on them. In continuous pursuit of recovering 124,000 people who lost their lives in the war, members of the MND Agency for KIA Recovery & Identification walk the valleys and ridges even today.