South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 7 to strengthen cooperation on veterans affairs between the two countries.
The MOU will be signed during the annual Korean War and Cold War (KCW) conference hosted by the DPAA in Omaha, Nebraska.
The agreement is intended to establish a foundation for cooperation between South Korea and the United States based on their shared understanding of the historical significance of the Korean War, including the recovery of remains of prisoners of war and missing personnel and support for their families. The ministry plans to use the agreement to expand practical international cooperation on veterans affairs and work with the DPAA to enhance recognition and support for families.
The two sides plan to pursue various initiatives to remember and provide support to families who lost loved ones in the war, including exchange programs such as inviting families of prisoners of war and missing personnel to South Korea, identifying and organizing memorial projects, and holding joint conferences.
The ministry will also present plans for the “7,359 Stars and Stripes We Must Find to the End” campaign, which honors and remembers the 7,359 U.S. service members who remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, including prisoners of war and missing personnel.
As part of the campaign, the ministry plans to produce badges featuring the Stars and Stripes applied to wooden boxes used to enshrine the remains of fallen U.S. service members. It will also discuss with the U.S. side a plan to assign serial numbers to each badge and distribute them to families of missing U.S. service members and the American public.
The United States deployed more than 1.789 million service members to the Korean War, of whom 36,574 were killed. A total of 7,359 service members remain unaccounted for, including those killed in action whose remains have not been recovered.
In 2020, marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, the ministry launched the “122,609 Taegeukgi We Must Find to the End” campaign to remember and honor the 122,609 South Korean service members whose remains have not been recovered. Related campaigns were also held in 2023 and 2025.
Following the signing of the MOU, Vice Minister Kang Yoon-jin will host a reception at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum in Omaha for about 500 families of prisoners of war and missing personnel.
Kang said, “Through this MOU and by strengthening cooperation with the governments of United Nations member states that participated in the Korean War, we will continue expanding our efforts to honor and support Korean War prisoners of war and missing personnel, their families and the families of fallen service members. Our government will work to ensure that veterans diplomacy serves as a foundation for strengthening trust and solidarity between South Korea and the United Nations member states that participated in the Korean War.”