Seoul, Washington begin joint underwater search for U.S. aircraft downed in Korean War

Korea and the United States on Monday launched a joint underwater excavation project in waters off the country's eastern coast to find the wreckage of U.S. aircraft that went down during the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul's Ministry of National Defense said.

The project, which is scheduled to run through Aug. 28, will take place in Gangneung and Yangyang in Gangwon, involving the ministry's Agency for KIA Recovery & Identification and the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

Some 40 people will be deployed for the project, including personnel from the Korean Navy's First Fleet and the Air Force's 18th Fighter Wing, as well as U.S. underwater planners and divers, according to the ministry.

The search will begin in waters off Yangyang County to find the wreckage of a U.S. F4U Corsair fighter aircraft. The fighter jet crashed while escorting another damaged U.S. attack aircraft in February 1952, leaving one pilot dead, records showed.

The research team will then focus on retrieving the wreckage of U.S. military transport aircraft, known as the Curtiss C-46 Commando, which went down in the Gangneung area in October and November 1952, on two separate occasions.

The incident left a total of 17 people missing from the plane crash in the first case, whereas two people were found dead and seven others missing in the November plane crash.

The joint survey team plans to conduct the search using underwater detector equipment and maritime unmanned systems, and deploy divers or remote sensing devices to inspect the scene upon finding the remains.

Seoul and Washington have made joint efforts to find the remains of U.S. soldiers killed during the conflict after signing an agreement to conduct such excavations in 2011.

Yonhap