S Korea spent $1M to find old land mines

South Korea spent more than $1 million this year to remove 168 land mines from the Korean War -- and thousands more are still buried, an official said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said about 53,000 South Korean troops were involved in clearing about 16 acres of land in seven locations between April and November, the Stars and Stripes reported Monday. Since the program began in 1998, about 68,000 land mines have been removed. A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said about 10,000 mines are still buried. Plans call for eight locations to be searched next year, including two villages along the DMZ. A cease-fire was declared in the war in 1953 but villagers still occasionally find land mines that have been uncovered, sometimes by heavy rains.