The Pentagon does not know how many Americans’ remains North Korea might still be holding from the Korean War, after the communist government turned over 55 boxes of bone fragments and other items, the director of the identification efforts said Thursday.
“We are not sure why the number, we’re also not sure how many they do possess,” said Kelly McKeague, the director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. “We do know that over the years, whether it is an agricultural project, a road being built or what have you, the likelihood of recovering remains is fairly high.”
President Trump said North Korea would return 200 sets of remains last month following his historic summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore. On Wednesday, military cargo planes repatriated the 55 metal boxes of human remains along with war artifacts such as a canteen, uniform buttons, and a dog tag turned over by the North to Hawaii, where they were met by Vice President Mike Pence.
“Again, it’s one [question] that none of us have been able to get a definitive answer to is how many they do possess,” said McKeague, who briefed reporters at the Pentagon.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is working with the North on the remains as part of the larger negotiations on its nuclear weapons program. The talks could lead to U.S. recovery teams re-entering the country to do their own searches for those still missing following the war from 1950-1953.
About 5,300 troops are estimated to still be missing inside North Korea. The most sets of remains ever turned over by the North in a given year was 33 in the 1990s. The latest offering is a “high-water mark” in the U.S. recovery efforts and fulfills Kim’s promise to Trump at the summit, McKeague said.
Initial inspections found the bones and artifacts in the 55 cases appear to be consistent with the remains of Americans received from Pyongyang in the past, but it remains unclear when they were collected or how they were stored, said John Byrd, a chief scientist and anthropologist at DPAA.
The remains are now set to undergo DNA testing in the coming weeks by the Pentagon agency, which conducts recovery efforts of U.S. troops missing overseas.
“But I can’t tell you that we could get expect an easy identification in a week, nor can I tell you that they will all be done in five years,” Byrd said.
Remains that include teeth and chest bones could provide the quickest leads, while other smaller fragments could take months or years to identify, he said.
