The US has suspended its effort to retrieve American remains from North Korea, an effort that has long been touted by President Donald Trump as evidence of the success of his first Singapore summit with Kim Jong Un.
The US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency told CNN that the effort was suspended due to a lack of communication from North Korean officials following the second summit between the two leaders in Hanoi earlier this year.
“DPRK officials have not communicated with DPAA since the Hanoi Summit,” Chuck Prichard, a spokesman for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said.
“As a result, our efforts to communicate with the Korean People’s Army regarding the possible resumption of joint recovery operations for 2019 has been suspended,” he added.
Following the Singapore summit that took place in July last year North Korea handed over 55 cases of presumed remains of US service members killed during the 1950-1953 Korean War.
In September Trump announced that the US had identified the remains of two American soldiers from the cases provided by North Korea.
There are more than 7,800 Americans still unaccounted for from the Korean War according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
However, tensions between Washington and Pyongyang have increased following the Hanoi summit and the failure of the two leaders to come to an agreement on the future of de-nuclearization.
On Friday North Korea tested rocket artillery and what US officials believe to be a short range ballistic missile.
Following that test, Trump tweeted “I believe that Kim Jong Un fully realizes the great economic potential of North Korea, & will do nothing to interfere or end it. He also knows that I am with him & does not want to break his promise to me. Deal will happen!”
