By Jung Min-ho

A U.S. serviceman will face theft charges for stealing a trophy that commemorates Canada's participation in the 1950-53 Korean War.

The silver trophy was made in 2000 for the winners of an ice hockey tournament, launched in memory of Canadian soldiers who, during the war, found respite from the conflict through playing ice hockey on the frozen Imjin River, a short distance from the frontline.

According to Yongsan Police Station in Seoul, Wednesday, a staff sergeant in the 8th U.S. Army, stole the trophy from a bar in Itaewon, Seoul, on April 4 and gave it to a colleague who eventually took it to Alaska in the United States.

Their identities are being withheld.

The staff sergeant was questioned by police after they obtained surveillance camera footage that shows him dancing with the trophy at the bar. The trophy had been on display at the bar, one of sponsors of the ice hockey tournament.

He initially denied allegations that he stole it, but later admitted that he did so. Upon the sergeant's request, the colleague sent the trophy to Korean police by mail, which arrived in the country on June 16 with little damage to it.

Police said the staff sergeant will face charges of theft here.

Prof. Andrew Monteith, who teaches English at Hongik University in Seoul, played a big role in getting the trophy back to Korea. He called police when it disappeared and asked for help from the Embassy of Canada in Korea to locate it.

Canada sent almost 27,000 troops to Korea and suffered 1,158 casualties of which 516 men died.