Russian-US Joint Commission Concludes Talks on Missing Korean War Veterans

US and Russian representatives of the Joint Commission on POWs/MIAs (prisoners of war and missing in action) have concluded technical negotiations in Washington, DC with respect to missing veterans of the Korean War, the Russian Embassy in the United States said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Russian delegation was led by the commission's Executive Secretary Andrei Taranov and the chief of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Permyakov.

"The parties [US and Russia] discussed issues related to determining the fate of aircraft crews shot down over the Korean peninsula during the war and opportunities and prospects for further collaboration in this area," the release said on Friday.

To date, Russia has provided the United States with access to declassified archives of the Soviet Air Force and gave US authorities additional information about more than 300 American servicemen who had been captured during the Korean War, the release noted.

Upon conclusion of the visit, the Russian and American representatives said they were pleased with the level of mutual understanding achieved and expressed readiness to develop further cooperation on establishing the fate of Russian and American servicemen who did not return home.

The parties also agreed to conduct the 21st Plenary Session of the Commission in Moscow on November 7-9, 2017, the release noted.

According to the US Department of Defense, more than 7,800 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War of 1950-1953. Seoul and Pyongyang signed a ceasefire after the end of the conflict, but the countries formally remain in a state of war.