North Korea gave only one dog tag for 55 boxes of war remains, US official says

Associated Press in Washington
Tue 31 Jul 2018 21.54 BST

When North Korea handed over 55 boxes of bones that it said are remains of American war dead, it provided just a single military dog tag and no other information that could help US forensics experts determine their individual identities, according to a US defense official.

The official, who discussed previously undisclosed aspects of the remains issue on condition of anonymity, said it probably will take months if not years to fully determine individual identities from the remains, which have not yet been confirmed by US specialists to be those of American servicemen.

The official did not know details about the single dog tag, including the name on it – or whether it was even that of an American military member.

During the Korean war, combat troops of 16 other United Nations member countries fought alongside US service members on behalf of South Korea. Some of them, including Australia, Belgium, France and the Philippines, have yet to recover some of their war dead from North Korea.

The 55 boxes were handed over at Wonsan, North Korea last Friday and flown aboard a US military transport plane to Osan air base in South Korea, where US officials catalogued the contents.

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