The South Korean military has begun a seven-month project to excavate remains of fallen soldiers who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War, the defense ministry said Thursday.

About 100,000 soldiers will dig out sites in 74 regions across the nation until the end of November to find remains of missing servicemembers, the ministry said.

The excavation team will analyze the registry of missing soldiers and conduct DNA tests to trace their families after retrieving their remains, it said.

Since 2000, the South Korean military has yearly conducted the excavation project based on records of former battle sites and registered soldiers during the three-year conflict to repatriate the remains to their family.

A total of 8,744 bodies have been recovered, with 7,658 of them identified as South Korean soldiers, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)