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DPAA estimates that there are 7,697 Americans unaccounted for from the Korean War. Of those, approximately 5,300 are expected to be located in North Korea.

One hundred wooden transit caskets were delivered to the demilitarized zone at the North and South Korean border at the end of June.

U.S. and North Korean officials met twice during the week of July 16 to discuss the transfer of remains, according to State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.

The White House statement noted that \"Today's actions represent a significant first step to recommence the repatriation of remains from North Korea and to resume field operations in North Korea to search for the estimated 5,300 Americans who have not yet returned home.\"

According to DPAA, North Korean officials have indicated they possess as many as 200 sets of remains recovered over the year.

\"The commitment established within the Joint Statement between President Trump and Chairman Kim would repatriate these as was done in the early 1990s and would reinforce the humanitarian aspects of this mission,\" DPAA said in a release last month.

From 1990 to 1994, the U.S. recovered 208 caskets with as many as 400 remains contained inside of them. From 1996 to 2005, 229 additional caskets were found and transferred.

DPAA has identified locations where they believe there are major concentrations of remains inside North Korea. Twelve hundred are believed to be in POW Camp Burial Sites and 1,000 could be located near the DMZ. There are also believed to be 184 individual remains at a cemetery in Pyongyang.

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