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U.S. talks to North Korea on repatriating remains

10 August 2011 03:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The U.S. military said on Tuesday it had reached out to North Korean officials about the possibility of repatriating remains of American service members killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com webpage.

The disclosure came amid an easing of tensions on the peninsula and just over a week after U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth met veteran North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan in New York.

Joint recovery efforts of U.S. service members were halted in May 2005 after Washington cited the uncertain environment created by the North’s nuclear program.

"The United States recently contacted (North Korean) officials on the subject of discussing the resumption of remains recovery operations in North Korea and we are currently awaiting a response," Pentagon spokeswoman Commander Leslie Hull-Ryde told Reuters.

Nearly 8,000 U.S. service members are listed as missing in the war, the remains of more than half of whom are estimated to be buried in the secretive state.

Hull-Ryde said North Korean officials had contacted U.S. officials and said they would look favorably on a U.S. request to hold talks on the matter.

Tensions have eased on the peninsula after spiking to their highest level in years in 2010 when 50 South Koreans were killed in two attacks.

Following recent U.S.-North Korean talks in New York, Pyongyang said it was willing to resume regional nuclear disarmament talks at an early date, without preconditions.

The so-called six-party talks, which also involve China, Japan and Russia, collapsed more than two years ago after the North tested a nuclear device and a long range missile.

The two Koreas’ nuclear envoys also met for the first time in two years late last month, raising hopes for a restart of the process that offers Pyongyang aid and diplomatic relations with Washington in return for scrapping its nuclear program.

U.S. officials have emphasized they are in no rush to restart the six-party talks, and South Korea’s top nuclear envoy said that it was unlikely the recent diplomatic activities would produce breakthroughs.