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Tripoli, 27 April:
The South Korean Foreign Ministry has said that the country will send a team of forensic scientists to help . . .[restrict]identify the remains of Libyans killed during last year’s fighting.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the ministry said the Korean government would allocate $ 2.6 million to set up DNA-testing and identification laboratories, provide equipment for excavation and identification as well as technical assistance. It said that the aid had been requested by the Libyan government.
“With a number of massive burial sites being uncovered across the country after being long neglected, Libya’s interim government is faced with great difficulties in excavating and identifying the remains,” the statement read.
It said that the Korean government “judged that the identification of the remains is humanitarian work that can help resolve conflicts among different ethnic groups and regions, thus contributing to the national reconstruction in Libya. In this view, the government decided to offer support after close consultation among relevant agencies, including the Ministry of National Defense which has the expertise and experience in this field from excavations and identification of those killed during the Korean War.”
It added that a Korean government delegation consisting of officials from the Foreign and Defense Ministries had conducted on-site research in Libya in March. [/restrict]
