National Security & Defense

The 55 boxes of human remains North Korea transferred to the United States this week are “consistent” with being American service members who lost their lives in the Korean War, according to the chief scientist at the U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Location information accompanying the boxes suggested most of the remains are those of U.S. Army soldiers who fought in the famous 1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir.

Conclusions that the human remains were likely Americans from the Korean War was based on their state of preservation, as well as Korean War-era materials in some boxes that included boots, canteens, buckles, and buttons, according to Dr. John Byrd, the DPAA's chief scientist who reviewed the contents of the boxes in North Korea.

"Everything we saw was consistent with these remains, indeed, being from the Korean War, and consistent with these remains being good candidates to be missing Americans from the Korean War," said Byrd.