The Senate voted on Monday to give the Pentagon an additional $10 million to help identify remains of U.S. troops turned over by North Korea earlier this month.
The measure was added to an annual defense appropriations bill by a 85-0 vote and was sponsored by Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. It was among the first amendments as the chamber considers a 2019 “minibus” spending bill this week.
“For the families of those who are lost, this is a long-awaited opportunity to gain closure and to give their loved ones the respectful, dignified remembrance that they deserve,” Fischer said on the Senate floor.
A collection of 55 boxes with bones, a dog tag, and bits of uniforms was handed over by North Korea and flown to Hawaii on Aug. 1 following President Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un in June.
The Pentagon’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency is now examining the remains and doing DNA testing in hopes of identifying troops that have been missing since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
“Sen. Fischer’s amendment is aimed at addressing the additional workload due to the boxes of remains of Americans who served in the Korean War, and the potential added workload from future transfers,” Fischer spokeswoman Brianna Puccini wrote in an email. “Additionally, it will also provide added resources for all of DPAA’s identification efforts, including those occurring at the agency’s lab at Offutt Air Force Base.”
The Pentagon’s identification effort could take months or years and could be costly.
The DPAA has said it is unclear how many additional troop remains North Korea still holds. Fischer said the regime has claimed at various times that the number could be 200.
The Pentagon may resume sending personnel into the reclusive country to search out more of the roughly 5,300 troops still missing.
The Fischer and Baldwin measure is now part of the Senate’s minibus, which could be voted on later this week.
The $10 million increase must still survive negotiations between a Senate and House conference committee that will craft final Pentagon appropriations legislation.
