Re: US Wraps Up Unsan & Changjin Excavations

Date: May 21, 2004

"US Team to Finish Long Dig for Remains in NK

By Yoo Dong-ho Staff Reporter

A group of U.S. officials will visit South Korea next Wednesday after wrapping up their 52 days of operation in North Korea to unearth the remains of U.S. soldiers missing or killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) officials said on Friday.

The 13-member U.S. team of the Joint POW /MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) has been engaged in operations to excavate the remains of U.S. soldiers killed on two of the war’s major battlefields for U.S. forces _ Unsan, North Pyongan Province, and Changjin, Hamgyong Province.

It is not yet known how many sets of remains were recovered.

The JPAC, which consists of 13 U.S. members and 13 North Korean officials, has conducted remains recovery operations in North Korea since April 5.

The USFK said it would hold a ceremonial funeral service at Knight Field in Yongsan Garrison next Thursday with the participation of South Korean war veterans associated with the Korea Veterans Association and the Korea Retired Generals and Admirals Association.

The remains will then be flown to the U.S. Army identification laboratory in Hawaii, according to the USFK.

The two countries have conducted a total of 32 searches in North Korea since 1996. About 8,100 U.S. servicemen from the Korean War are yet to be accounted for.

Between 1990 and 1994, North Korea independently excavated and returned more than 200 sets of remains to the United States. However, due to co-mingling of the remains and other complicating factors, very few have been identified.

Some 180 sets of remains had been recovered by the end of last year but fewer than a dozen have been positively identified.

The team will conduct four more searches up until November this year.

yoodh@koreatimes.co.kr
© Hankooki"