U.S. asks about recovering remains

The U.S. military has proposed talks with North Korea on resuming recovery of the remains of thousands of U.S. service members killed in the Korean War.

A U.S. Defense Department official told The Associated Press on Friday that a letter was sent to the North Korean government this week after Pyongyang officials had contacted the department saying they would look favorably on such a U.S. request.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as the letter sent Tuesday has not been made public and North Korea has yet to respond to it.

About 8,000 U.S. service members are listed as missing from the Korean War, some 5,500 of them in North Korea. Joint efforts to recover remains halted in 2005 after Washington cited insufficient security for its personnel.

“Because of their overture, we believe our personnel can safely perform these operations in North Korea,’’ the official said. AP