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US troop remains can never be recovered: North Korea
SEOUL - Remains of American soldiers killed in North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean war can never be recovered, Pyongyang has said in response to Washington's decision to suspend its search operation.
Pyongyang retaliated late on Wednesday, saying Washington had brought a military overtone to the humanitarian mission. "The US side's use of even the humanitarian work, which had been underway as requested by itself, for a sinister political and military purpose, once again fully revealed what a foolish group the present US administration is," North Korea's official KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman for the (North) Korean People's Army as saying. The North said no member of a US recovery team had ever been harmed in their work in the country. Pyongyang called the US administration "rude", adding that since it saw Washington as violating the joint agreement on searching for remains, "the KPA side has decided to totally dismantle its side's investigation and recovery unit", KCNA reported the army spokesman as saying. "In consequence, the US remains buried in North Korea can never be recovered but are bound to be reduced to earth with the flow of time," the spokesman said. Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/MIA office, said US personnel have worked inside North Korea every year since 1996, undertaking five one-month missions annually to search for remains of Americans. During that time, US teams have recovered more than 220 sets of remains, Greer said. Of those, 25 have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honours, Greer said. There was a previous suspension in late 2002 and early 2003, the Pentagon said. Posted by: Steve White 2005-06-02 |
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