MIA Remains: Home From Korea

Remains believed to be those of nine American soldiers missing in action in the Korean War were returned to the U.S. military Friday.

A U.N. honor guard team removed the remains from a plane that flew them to the U.S. Yokota Air Base in Tokyo from Pyongyang, North Korea, Air Force Staff Sgt. Alan Williams said.

The remains normally are taken to an Army laboratory in Hawaii for identification, Williams said.

A U.S.-North Korean team working in Unsan and Kujang counties, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang, recovered the remains.

The recovery operation, the third this year, was the 15th in North Korea since the program began four years ago. Two more digs are scheduled this year, with the final operation to conclude on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, the Air Force said in a statement.

Seventy-seven sets of remains have been recovered since the program started and five have been identified and returned to their families. Another 10 are in the final stages of the forensic identification process, the Air Force said.

Of the 88,000 U.S. service members missing in action from all conflicts, more than 8,100 are from the 1950-1953 Korean War.