REPORT HINTS MORE AMERICANS MAY STILL BE IN NORTH KOREA.Byline: Philip Shenon The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times A Defense Department report has concluded that as many as 15 U.S. soldiers taken prisoner during the Korean War Korean War, conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation. are still alive in North Korea and that several may want to return to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . The internal report, dated March 26, contradicts the Pentagon's earlier statements that it was unlikely that many U.S. soldiers might still be alive in North Korea. Instead, it describes a ``recent flurry'' of ``very compelling reports'' this year that U.S. prisoners are still being held. A Defense Department spokesman, Sam Grizzle grizzle a bluish-gray or iron-gray coat color in dogs, consisting of a mixture of black and white hairs. In canaries, it describes light, grayish markings on the head, body, wings or tail. , confirmed the authenticity of the document, which was made available to reporters by California Rep. Robert Dornan, R-Garden Grove, but said it did not reflect the formal views of the Pentagon. ``We've never ruled out the possibility of POWs, but we've never ruled it in,'' he said. ``The memo is unsigned, and as far as I'm concerned, this is a draft memo.'' The Pentagon has said in the past that it had compelling evidence only that two American defectors - not prisoners of war prisoners of war, in international law, persons captured by a belligerent while fighting in the military. International law includes rules on the treatment of prisoners of war but extends protection only to combatants. - are still alive in North Korea. The March report was marked ``for official use only'' and was prepared by a Defense Department investigator, Insung O. Lee; he did not return phone calls Friday to his office in Washington. Officials described Lee as a veteran investigator with the Office of Prisoner of War PRISONER OF WAR. One who has been captured while fighting under the banner of some state. He is a prisoner, although never confined in a prison. 2. In modern times, prisoners are treated with more humanity than formerly; the individual captor has now no and Missing in Action Affairs, a Pentagon agency. The two-page report bases its conclusions on sightings by North Korean defectors A number of individuals have defected from North Korea. Different terms are in official and unofficial use in East Asian languages to refer to this group of refugees. On 9 January 2005, the South Korean Ministry of Unification announced that it will use saeteomin and visitors to the long-isolated nation. ``There are too many live-sighting reports, specifically observations of several Caucasians in a collective farm by Romanians and the North Korean defectors' eyewitness of Americans in DPRK, to dismiss that there are no American POWs in North Korea,'' it says, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea The People's Republic of Korea (PRK) was a short-lived provisional government organized to take over control of the country after the Surrender of Japan at the end of the Pacific War. It existed in August and September 1945. . The report says the evidence suggests that American prisoners are living in group compounds in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, and its suburbs, and that their movements ``are apparently controlled by the North Korea government.'' Dornan has alleged that Pentagon investigators failed to follow up on evidence suggesting that U.S. soldiers might still be held in North Korea, Vietnam and other former war zones. A spokesman for Dornan, Al Santoli Al Santoli is a decorated Vietnam veteran, Pulitzer Prize nominated author and founder of the Asia America Initiative, best known for his novel . He served as a rifleman for the 25th Infantry Division in Dau Tieng. , said in an interview that the report had been turned over by Pentagon officials sympathetic to his efforts to pursue information about Americans missing in Korea. The issue was stirred up several months ago by reports in the South Korean press that American war prisoners were alive in North Korea. The Pentagon described the reports at the time as either false or wildly exaggerated. ``We have no knowledge of live prisoners of war being held back since the Korea War,'' a Defense Department official said in January. Kenneth Steadman, director of national security and foreign affairs for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nation's largest veterans group, said Friday, ``We've been watching this carefully for 40 years, and have not seen any evidence of any live Americans held as prisoners of war'' in North Korea. ``I would hope that it's true,'' he said of the Pentagon report. While Lee's report offers nothing like conclusive evidence CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE. That which cannot be contradicted by any other evidence,; for example, a record, unless impeached for fraud, is conclusive evidence between the parties. 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 3061-62. that Americans are being held against their will in North Korea, it cites ``a variety of additional sightings reports'' in recent years suggesting that many American prisoners of war may still be alive. |
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