Almost 60 years after an armistice ended the Korean war, the United States has resumed its efforts to bring home the remains of more than 2000 American soldiers.
The US has written to North Korea on the matter, the Pentagon said.
Despite the complete absence of diplomatic ties and particularly frosty ties over recent attacks on South Korea, the US has long sought cooperation with North Korea over the repatriation of soldiers’ remains.
North Korea has reportedly received several millions of dollars in exchange for cooperation.
Speaking at this year’s Korean War Armistice Day, war veteran and Democratic congressman, Charles Rangal, called upon Americans to remember the fallen.
"As we pay tribute to the nearly two million Americans who answered the call to defend the freedom of Korea, we should not forget about those who never returned” he said.
North Korea returned 208 sets of remains during the early ‘90s, however, American forensic experts were unable to identify most.
Following further negotiations, American experts were later allowed into North Korea in order to conduct a more precise retrieval process, yielding more than 220 sets of remains – eighty of which were identified and returned to the families concerned.
Operations ceased six years ago however, after the United States raised concerns over the safety of its workers.
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