World

Talks Open On Korean War Remains

December 13, 2000 / 2:26 PM EST / AP

The United States and North Korea opened talks Wednesday on recovering more remains of U.S. servicemen missing from the Korean War, with the Americans hoping to expand search operations next year after discovering a record 65 sets of possible remains in 2000.

Helped along by this year's tentative thawing in U.S.-North Korean relations, the negotiations between the Defense Department's POW/Missing Personnel Office and the North Korean army were expected to conclude Friday or Saturday.

James L. Greer, the lead U.S. negotiator, said that an unprecedented five joint recovery operations were made in North Korea between April and November this year. They were carried out by 20-man teams as opposed to the 10 allowed previously.

"It was a very successful year by our standards," Greer told The Associated Press. "We're optimistic we can do more. There's been a steady line of progress since we started in 1996."

That year North Korea first allowed U.S. experts to take part in a single recovery mission that yielded the remains of one U.S. servicemen. As such missions have gradually expanded, remains believed to belong to 107 missing American soldiers have been recovered.

Five have been positively identified and 10 are nearing the end of the forensic identification process led by specialists from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii.

The recovery teams have operated in an area about 60 miles north of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

The sites where remains have been recovered are in Unsan and Kujang counties, many of them along the Chong Chan River, where many American soldiers were lost in battle. U.S. experts believe that as many as 400 soldiers may be missing in this area.

"We always hope to go to other places in Korea," Greer said. "We have a general idea of where the American losses are, based on wartime records and talks with returning POWs."

To carry out more than the five missions completed this year, the United States would need to send a greater number of experts or spend more time in the country, Greer said. Icy ground prevents operations between mid-October and spring.

Relations between Washington and Pyongyang are easing this year amid the thaw between North and South Korea following a historic meeting between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

In Pyongyang on Wednesday, South Korea's unification minister met for the second day of the fourth round of talks with his North Korean counterpart on speeding up joint projects. Park Jae-kyu of South Korea expressed concerns that the pace of initiatives is slowing, especially regarding family reunions. North Korea cited logistical difficulties.

But for the United States, Kuala Lumpur has become a regular venue for sensitive negotiations with North Korea, especially on the status of the North's ballistic missile program.

More than 8,100 U.. servicemen are listed as missing in action from the Korean War, fought from 1950 to 1953. It ended without a peace treaty and the United States still stations 37,000 troops in South Korea.

From 1991 to 1994, the North Koreans began returning some unilaterally recovered remains, mostly to visiting high-level U.S. delegations.

Due to crude recovery techniques, only seven of 208 have been identified, the statement said. The United States asked North Korea to stop unilateral recoveries, and by 1996 talks had led to participation of U.S. experts.