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NK Threatens to Abandon Search for US Soldiersâ€™ Remains

06 April 2010 04:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. North Korea threatened Monday to abandon its efforts to preserve the remains of U.S. soldiers who went missing during the Korean War (1950-53), warning that the United States will be to blame if the remains are ``washed off and lost’’, APA reports quoting â€œThe Korean Timesâ€

A joint excavation project between the two countries was halted in 2005 due to tensions over the North’s nuclear ambitions.

``Though lots of U.S. remains are being dug out and scattered here and there in our country, our side will no longer be concerned about it,’’ a North Korean army spokesman was quoted as saying by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Talks on resuming the project were held in January to little avail.

``We are very surprised at the U.S. which is turning away from the fact that its servicemen’s remains are being spoiled and scattered here and there,’’ KCNA said, adding that the U.S. has made a ``humanitarian issue into a political problem.’’

The United States conducted more than 30 excavation missions in the North from 1996 to 2005, finding the remains of what it believed to be some 230 soldiers. It estimates that the remains of some 8,000 of its soldiers are still there.

The project had been a source of hard currency for the North, which has been struggling with a worsening food situation and reeling from the effects of its botched currency revaluation.