N. Koreans to Help U.S. Trace MIAs
North Korea has agreed for the first time to work with the United States to account for thousands of U.S. and allied troops listed as missing since the end of the Korean War, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
The agreement appeared to be a step forward in a 40-year-old dispute over North Korea’s obligations to account for the missing. But it was not immediately clear how far the North Korean government had agreed to go in the effort. It also is unclear how many bodies may be recovered.
The U.S. government lists about 8,140 U.S. servicemen as unaccounted for from the 1950-53 Korean conflict. It says it has no credible evidence that any of them were alive at the end of the war, although some experts dispute that.
Some believe a relatively small number of Americans were held captive in North Korea after the war or were sent to labor camps in China or the former Soviet Union.
Marine Corps Maj. Steve Little said the Koreans did not agree to provide access to documents relating to missing Americans or to allow U.S. officials to visit sites in former battle zones.
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