US faces problems looking for remains of MIA in South Korea

Development poses hurdle in search for U.S. remains
By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, May 16, 2008



SEOUL — In Southeast Asia, anthropologists face Indiana Jones-like hurdles to find the remains of U.S. troops lost in battle decades ago — jungles, poisonous snakes and acidic soil that can erode bones before they’re ever found.

In South Korea, obstacles are more modern but just as daunting — high-rise apartments that cover land where soldiers could be buried.

"One of the main, significant difficulties you see every time you look outside: This place is incredibly developed," said Charles Ray, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. "I have difficulty recognizing places where I spent a lot of time. Places that were once rice paddies are massive condominiums."

Ray and other top officials with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command spoke with Stars and Stripes on Wednesday during a visit to South Korea. During their weeklong trip, they met with South Korean officials to discuss South Korea’s search for its missing, which often overlaps with the U.S. search for its missing.

JPAC is a U.S. military organization based in Hawaii that works to recover the remains of 88,000 troops unaccounted for since World War II. About 8,100 U.S. troops still are missing on the Korean peninsula, most in North Korea.
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