News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Bob Necci & Carol Hrdlicka, Andi Wolos
(POW-MIA FaxNetwork)

Re: US-NK Talks Turn To LIVE Men

Date: May 4, 1997

Associated Press is reporting that talks between the US and North Korea broke ground when the discussion turned to reports of Americans still alive in the communist country.

A spokeswoman for the Pentagon also stated that the talks included discussion of 'alleged' Americans still alive in North Korea.

Also planned are discussions on joint excavations of POW burial sites and a meeting bewteen the North Koreans and a handful of POW-MIA family members later in the week.

Last year, the US paid $2 million US dollars for 160+ sets of remains. Only 8 were identified as American. DPMO representatives state that a bilateral excavation agreement may account for bewteen 1,000 to 3,500 of the 8,100+ unaccounted for from the Korean War.

Most importantly though is the issue of LIVE POWs. Over the past several years a number of reports and accounts have placed American in North Korea. The communist country has consistently denied any Americans were held after Operation Big Switch/Little Switch. However, the testimony of men like Colonel Corso, Jan Sejna and Dr. Joseph Douglass, tell a different story.

Last month, North Korea claimed that South Korea was still holding North Korean POWs, nearly 50 years after the formal end of the war.