U.S., Vietnam Discuss Faster Hunt for MIAs

The highest-level U.S. delegation to visit Vietnam since the war ended in 1975 met officials here for three hours today to discuss ways to speed up the search for Americans still listed as missing in action.

Neither side disclosed details of the session.

Vietnam has promised to resolve the MIA issue within two years. It is believed that details of steps to be taken were a major item on today’s agenda.

Washington lists about 2,400 Americans as missing in action in Indochina, 1,797 of them in Vietnam. The rest are listed as missing in Cambodia and Laos.

‘In-Depth Discussion’

After the meeting, the head of the American delegation, Assistant Defense Secretary Richard Armitage, told reporters: “I’ll just say that both sides engaged in an in-depth discussion of all aspects of the American prisoner of war-missing in action issue, to include how we might accelerate progress toward the resolution of this issue.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Hoang Bich Son, who headed the Vietnamese team, said: “I agree with Mr. Armitage. Neither side wants to say more now.”

Vietnamese officials insist that they regard the whereabouts of the MIAs as a humanitarian issue, but they also seek normalization of diplomatic ties with the United States, which Washington says is not possible while Hanoi’s troops remain in Cambodia.

Vietnam ousted the communist Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in January, 1979, and set up a pro-Hanoi government.

Vo Dong Giang, the minister of state in charge of foreign affairs, told reporters while the talks were under way: “I would say there has been some progress, some evolution of relations, even though the U.S. side says that relations are limited to the MIAs.”