US identifies two sets of Korean War remains: Mattis

Washington, Sep 12 (IANS) Defence Secretary James Mattis has revealed that the US has identified two sets of Korean War remains among those that had been returned by Pyongyang over a month ago.

Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday that experts chose to focus on these two sets of remains as they thought "they had a better chance", considering reasons including where the remains had been found and the background Washington had.

"So there’s been, already, some closure for a couple of families that have waited many, many years for this," Xinhua quoted the Pentagon chief as saying.

Mattis did not publicly identify the remains. He also said that consultations are going on about the repatriation of more Korean War remains.

Fifty-five boxes of human remains from the 1950-53 Korean War were handed over by North Korea in late July, that has been seen as a sign of progress after the historic Singapore meeting between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean top leader Kim Jong-un.