North Korea has blamed the United States for the halt in the excavation of remains of U.S. soldiers killed during the Korean War in North Korea.
 
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted the Korean People's Army spokesman at the truce village of Panmunjom as saying on Monday that excavation efforts were suspended due to U.S. racketeering and unilateral actions. The statement said U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made remarks last month placing the blame on Pyongyang for the suspension in the excavation work.
 
The statement said the organization in the North overseeing the excavations was dissolved a long time ago. It also said remains of U.S. soldiers are lying around in mountainous areas that have undergone construction or land adjustment projects or suffered floods. The statement said unfortunate situations have emerged in which the bodies are being washed away en masse.
 
It continued, saying history will curse and condemn the U.S. government’s crimes against humanity that have led to the collapse of humanitarian projects such as the joint excavation work.
 
The U.S. carried out work on finding remains of U.S. soldiers in the North from 1996 before suspending such efforts in 2005 out of concern for the safety of its excavation teams. In 2011, such operations resumed in line with a North Korea-U.S. agreement, but such work again came to a halt in March 2012 due to the North’s announcement of plans to launch a long-range rocket.