JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM — A total of six American troops have been identified so far from 55 boxes of human remains that North Korea turned over last year, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
Lieutenant Colonel Ken Hoffman, a spokesman for the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Account Agency (DPAA), said four families have been notified of the remains, while two other families are awaiting notification.
The remains were returned to the U.S. by North Korea after a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June 2018. The two leaders had signed an agreement allowing for recovery of the remains of U.S. soldiers from the 1950-53 Korean War.
However, after a second summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi in February ended with no agreement, the military said earlier this month it had suspended efforts with North Korea to recover U.S. soldiers’ remains.
The DPAA, based in Hawaii, recovers U.S. soldiers’ remains from around the world.
Military officials say about 5,300 American troops are believed lost in what is now North Korea.