DNA breakthrough returns Korean War soldier home after 7 decades

The Korea Times - Oct 15, 2026

In the scorched summer of 1950, as North Korean forces pushed deep down the Korean Peninsula, a 20-year-old soldier took his final stand on a rugged mountain ridge in Gunwi, a county located just north of the southeastern city of Daegu. A native of Miryang and the eldest of nine siblings, Pfc. Cho Cha-sang had enlisted just weeks earlier, stepping forward to defend a fledgling democracy in what would become known as the fierce Gunwi-Uihung Battle. He fell on Aug. 14, swallowed by the chaos of a retreating front line, his body left behind on Mount Maebong. For his family, the sudden loss marked the start of decades of quiet grief. Cho’s mother carried the sorrow to her final days, imparting a solemn deathbed charge to her youngest daughter, Cho Ok-ran: find her eldest brother’s remains and lay him to rest in a national cemetery. That 76-year-old promise was finally fulfilled Thursday during a poignant homecoming ceremony held at the younger Cho’s home in Gimhae. “When they told me they had found my brother’s remains, my heart trembled so hard I couldn’t sleep,” said Cho Ok-r

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