[ti:North Korea Returns Remains of Korean War Dead to US] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.40]North Korea has returned to the United States more than 55 sets of human remains. [00:08.89]The remains are believed to be of Americans killed during the Korean War in North Korea. [00:19.40]A special ceremony was held at Osan Airbase in South Korea to mark the return. [00:29.68]The 55 boxes fulfill a promise, after some delay, [00:35.60]by North Korea's leader to U.S. President Donald Trump [00:41.24]during their meeting in Singapore on June 12. [00:47.48]An unidentified U.S. defense official, however, [00:52.00]said there was only one set of military identification tags, [00:57.92]known as dog tags, with the remains. [01:02.20]The official spoke to the Associated Press on the condition [01:08.16]that the person would not be identified. [01:12.96]The defense official said, "It could take months, [01:16.96]or even years to identify them." [01:22.40]North Korea has provided very little information [01:26.45]to help identify the remains, a defense official told VOA. [01:33.17]It could be difficult to find out if the remains are even American military members. [01:42.44]Troops from 16 other United Nations member countries [01:48.00]fought with the U.S. during the war. [01:52.76]Service members from countries including Australia, Belgium, France [02:00.36]and the Philippines also have not been recovered from North Korea. [02:08.80]Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis [02:13.84]said the return of the 55 boxes was a good step [02:19.72]but not a guarantee that the bones are American. [02:25.20]"We don't know who's in those boxes," Mattis said. [02:31.88]The U.S. Defense Department estimates that about 7,700 American service members [02:40.70]were missing during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. [02:49.32]About 5,300 were believed to be on North Korean soil. [02:56.80]Many were placed in shallow burials on battlefields. [03:03.44]Efforts to recover remains in North Korea have faced political and other barriers. [03:12.40]Between 1990 and 1994, [03:17.64]North Korea returned 208 containers to the U.S. with remains. [03:25.76]But examination showed that the remains were from more than 208 individuals. [03:34.60]Of those, 181 have been identified. [03:41.88]Also, between 1996 and 2005, U.S.-North Korea joint efforts [03:51.44]resulted in the recovery of 229 containers of remains. [03:59.32]The Defense Department said 153 individuals have been identified. [04:08.40]The U.S. official who discussed the recently returned bones [04:13.76]said the U.S. is considering including South Korea [04:18.88]in future searches for remains in North Korea. [04:25.68]Richard Downes' father is one of the Korean War missing. [04:32.12]He said that hopefully the most recent set of remains [04:37.40]will lead to more information about those who are missing. [04:43.59]I'm Mario Ritter. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM