By Here is an area of cooperation I would like to see get re-started with North Korea as long as they don’t try and charge some extravagant price for the return of Korean War dead:
The U.S. Defense Department says it is waiting to decide whether or not to resume excavations of the remains of missing U.S. soldiers from the Korean War.
Rear Admiral Donna Crisp, commander of the Pentagon’s Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. has not decided whether to resume excavations in North Korea that were halted in 2005.
The U.S. and the North first launched a joint excavation in 1996 but halted the program after tensions spiked between the two countries over the North’s nuclear weapons program. [KBS Global]
1:36 pm on January 29th, 2009 1
I too would like to see the resuming of excavations of US dead from the Korean war. Its the least we can do for those who died.However it should be conducted under conditions that respect what they died for and not by any means possible.
3:19 am on January 30th, 2009 2
Etched on the dog tags of every U.S. soldier in the 10th Mountain Division: "I will never leave a fallen comrade." It's in keeping with a long, time honored tradition. But in these uncertain financial times – I think we need to ask ourselves a very, very hard question…………..how much is too much to pay? $250,000 per set of remains? $500,000 per set? Should cost simply not be made a factor and even if we come back empty handed or nearly empty handed – should we just continue on in hopes of finding a few more?We're talking about people who all died over 55 years ago. The number of immediate relatives who are still alive who actually knew those who died in the Korean War is dwindling quickly. Is this a factor that we should consider?
9:24 am on January 30th, 2009 3
Guitard I agree with your concerns and strongly believe this program shouldn't be restarted to become a cash cow for the North Koreans. I'm not sure how much was being paid before but only a reasonable fee should be offered. Personally I believe this issue should be part of the denuclearization / normalization talks much like I think the return of the USS Pueblo should have been as well.
7:16 am on October 15th, 2009 4
YES, MY UNCLE IS THERE, HE NEEDS TO BE HOME!