ID :
79845
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 14:03
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/79845
The shortlink copeid
Most U.S. soldiers missing from Korean War buried in North: experts
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Yonhap) -- The majority of U.S. soldiers who went missing during
the Korean War are believed to be buried in North Korea, U.S. anthropologists
said Monday, hoping their work in South Korea would help better prepare them for
future excavation in the communist state.
"Roughly, 7,000 up north, about 1,000 south," James Polkines, a forensic expert
working for the U.S. Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command
(JPAC), said in an interview in Seoul.
About 8,100 U.S. soldiers remain unaccounted for from the 1950-53 war, which
ended in a truce between North Korea-Chinese forces and the U.S.-led U.N. troops
that fought for the South Korean side.
JPAC workers were allowed to trace missing U.S. soldiers in North Korea until
2005 when tensions between Pyongyang and Washington spiked over the North's
nuclear arms programs.
Polkines, who visited Seoul with two other JPAC experts to conduct a joint study,
said his team, in essence, is preparing for a potential visit to North Korea by
working on the South Korean soil.
"Here (in South Korea) we get to learn about what we might encounter in North
Korea," Polkines said.
"We were always taken in a very controlled way in North Korea. We couldn't go
where we wanted to, do what we wanted," he said. The North Korean regime strictly
controls foreign influence.
Gregory L. Fox, who said he has visited North Korea at least five times,
explained that remains from the Korean War are marked in unique ways.
"Oh, gosh, we do World War II in Europe, which are very like these remains. The
losses tend to be in the fighting positions, in the trenches, in the foxholes,
and those remains stay," he said of the Korean War.
"Since this was a very fluid war, and there were some very massive retreats, very
quick advances, you have people fighting over the same ground multiple times,"
said Fox, a material evidence expert. "You can tell what time of the year they
were in by the types of things that were left behind, whether it be socks, boots,
or buttons."
Fox and Polkines said that should relations between Washington and Pyongyang
improve and help their excavation in the North to resume, a team of 10 to 12 U.S.
experts could be adequate.
"Should our government decide they want to do it, we're prepared to go back and
do it again," Fox said, hoping his team would be allowed greater access to the
local population, which might give them helpful information.
"We typically don't have direct contact with the citizens. A few witnesses,
that's about it," he said of his experience in the North.
The U.S. maintains a force of 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against
the North.
South Korea has discovered the remains of about 2,500 of its soldiers. About a
dozen U.N. troops and over 600 enemy soldiers were also found, according to the
Seoul-based Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Yonhap) -- The majority of U.S. soldiers who went missing during
the Korean War are believed to be buried in North Korea, U.S. anthropologists
said Monday, hoping their work in South Korea would help better prepare them for
future excavation in the communist state.
"Roughly, 7,000 up north, about 1,000 south," James Polkines, a forensic expert
working for the U.S. Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command
(JPAC), said in an interview in Seoul.
About 8,100 U.S. soldiers remain unaccounted for from the 1950-53 war, which
ended in a truce between North Korea-Chinese forces and the U.S.-led U.N. troops
that fought for the South Korean side.
JPAC workers were allowed to trace missing U.S. soldiers in North Korea until
2005 when tensions between Pyongyang and Washington spiked over the North's
nuclear arms programs.
Polkines, who visited Seoul with two other JPAC experts to conduct a joint study,
said his team, in essence, is preparing for a potential visit to North Korea by
working on the South Korean soil.
"Here (in South Korea) we get to learn about what we might encounter in North
Korea," Polkines said.
"We were always taken in a very controlled way in North Korea. We couldn't go
where we wanted to, do what we wanted," he said. The North Korean regime strictly
controls foreign influence.
Gregory L. Fox, who said he has visited North Korea at least five times,
explained that remains from the Korean War are marked in unique ways.
"Oh, gosh, we do World War II in Europe, which are very like these remains. The
losses tend to be in the fighting positions, in the trenches, in the foxholes,
and those remains stay," he said of the Korean War.
"Since this was a very fluid war, and there were some very massive retreats, very
quick advances, you have people fighting over the same ground multiple times,"
said Fox, a material evidence expert. "You can tell what time of the year they
were in by the types of things that were left behind, whether it be socks, boots,
or buttons."
Fox and Polkines said that should relations between Washington and Pyongyang
improve and help their excavation in the North to resume, a team of 10 to 12 U.S.
experts could be adequate.
"Should our government decide they want to do it, we're prepared to go back and
do it again," Fox said, hoping his team would be allowed greater access to the
local population, which might give them helpful information.
"We typically don't have direct contact with the citizens. A few witnesses,
that's about it," he said of his experience in the North.
The U.S. maintains a force of 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against
the North.
South Korea has discovered the remains of about 2,500 of its soldiers. About a
dozen U.N. troops and over 600 enemy soldiers were also found, according to the
Seoul-based Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
