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| A U.S. military vehicle believed to be carrying caskets cross the Tongil Bridge checkpoint near the Demilitarized Zone, June 24. The U.S. military said last week it had moved 100 wooden coffins to the border in preparation for bringing back the remains of the American soldiers from North Korea. / Korea Times file photo |
Pompeo expected to recover remains during Pyongyang visit on July 6
By Yi Whan-woo
North Koreans have dug up the remains of American soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War that they have hidden for years for possible cash rewards one day when relations with the United States improved, according to sources familiar with Pyongyang.
The revelations come as the U.S. prepares to bring back remains of U.S. soldiers in North Korea in line with the joint statement announced by U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their summit in Singapore, June 12.
The statement, aimed at denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, says the U.S. and North Korea commit to recovering remains of prisoners of war and missing in action.
"It is widely believed by North Koreans that they might get good money for the remains of U.S. soldiers," a source told Radio Free Asia last week. "When people find these remains near Korean War battlefields, they often keep the remains privately instead of reporting them to the authorities."
The sources said it was known in the North that the U.S. had never stopped searching for the remains of its soldiers.
"So they believe they can make good money for these someday, and are keeping them in secret without reporting them to the authorities," a different source said.
North Korean authorities offer no reward for handing over remains. But people can collect up to $1,000 from a Chinese broker if they deliver the remains of a soldier along with his dog tags or some other evidence of identity, according to the sources.
The source said the North Koreans left the remains of North Korean and South Korean soldiers where they were.
The North's General Political Bureau is controlling the exhumation work under tight security while providing the equipment.
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| The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment coffin bearers carry the American flag that covered a casket containing the co-mingled remains of five Army Air Forces crew members of a B-17 bomber shot down over Germany in World War II. The group burial was held at Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia, June 27. Sources familiar with Pyongyang said North Koreans are aware that the U.S. had never stopped looking for the remains of soldiers who died or went missing in the Korean War and that the North Koreans exhume the remains in the hope they may someday bring a cash reward. / AP-Yonhap |
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to bring back the remains of the American soldiers when he visits North Korea.
He is scheduled to go to Pyongyang on July 6 to discuss follow-up measures after the Singapore summit.
During a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee last week, he said he was "optimistic" that the U.S. would receive some remains "in the not-too-distant future."
But he added, "We have not yet physically received them."
The U.S. military said it had moved 100 wooden coffins to the border between North and South Korea last week.
About 7,700 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, and about 5,300 of those were lost in North Korea.
U.S. officials expect the remains to be handed over to United Nations Command at Osan Air Base in South Korea before being transferred to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.
Some forensic experts speculate that identifying the remains will be tough, claiming they could be co-mingled and not separated by individuals.
Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team President Luis Fondebrider said co-mingled remains were the most difficult because they require identification of which skeletal fragments belonged to the same person.
The non-governmental group specializes in using forensic science to investigate human rights violations.
"The degree that bones have broken down is also important, and deterioration, such as from being under soil, can affect whether DNA can be recovered," Fondebrider said.
Remains that North Korea has handed over in the past have not always been identifiable as U.S. troops, despite the dog tags handed over with them, according to a 1994 RAND Corporation research report.
"With no exception, every North Korean claim associated with human remains has shown to be false," the report said, referring to the so-called remains of 46 people returned between 1990 and 1992. "For example, these 46 sets are actually fragments of more than 70 individuals."
Richard Downes, president of the Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War Prisoners of War and Missing in Action, said forming a joint mission between U.S. researchers and the North Korean military would be effective in recovering the remains.
The U.S. conducted joint recovery operations from 1996 to 2005, enabling U.S. researchers to keep the remains more intact and to glean clues from their surroundings.
