Anchor: South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to cooperate on recovering the remains of Korean soldiers who served as augmentation troops to U.S. forces during the Korean war. Veterans of the special troops have consistently raised the issue with both governments. KBS World Radio's Kim In-kyung tells us more.

Report: South Korea and the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding Monday to cooperate on recovering the remains of Korean Augmentation Troops to the U.S. Army, or KATUSA soldiers, killed during the Korean War. Under the agreement, the U.S. military plans to ask North Korea to repatriate the remains of KATUSA soldiers it may discover while looking for the remains of U.S. soldiers. The KATUSA program was developed in 1950 and KATUSAs serve with the U.S. army for the duration of their military service.

Seoul and Washington will also meet regularly to update each other on the matter, and South Korea will have access to U.S. archives on KATUSA personnel as it doesn't have many records of KATUSAs who died during the war.

KATUSA veterans have consistently raised the issue of recovering the remains of their fellow soldiers with both the South Korean and U.S. governments. The veterans association has said that KATUSAs and U.S. army personnel participated in battles in two-person teams so it is highly likely that they died in the same places. The veterans association believes more than seven-thousand KATUSAs died during the Korean War.

The U.S. government recovered the remains of roughly 220 soldiers in North Korea over ten years from 1996, but halted efforts in 2005 on grounds that the safety of recovery personnel could not be assured. Following talks with North Korea in October to resume the recovery of missing personnel, the U.S. will conduct recovery missions in North Korea from April to October next year.

Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News.