The remains of three British troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War will be buried at the UN Memorial Cemetery in South Korea's southeastern port city of Busan later this month, the veterans affairs ministry said Thursday.

The defense ministry's excavation agency discovered the remains at two former battle sites in Paju, 30 kilometers northwest of Seoul, between 2016-2017, and identified them as those of the fallen British troops through a joint examination with US experts.

The troops are presumed to have belonged to the 29th British Infantry Brigade and died in April 1951, the ministry said. They will be laid to rest as "unknown soldiers" as their names have yet to be verified.

The burial is set to take place at the cemetery during an annual ceremony next Thursday to commemorate the sacrifices of UN troops in the war.

Around 56,000 British service members are known to fought in the war under the UN flag against the North Korean forces backed by the then Soviet Union and China.

Some 1.95 million UN troops from 22 countries took part in the Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)