North Korea has declared an end to efforts to recover the remains of American soldiers missing in action since the 1950-1953 Korean War.
A statement released by Pyongyang Thursday said the action follows a U.S. decision to temporarily suspend the program. The statement says now U.S. remains lost on old North Korean battlefields can never be recovered.
Pentagon officials said last week they were suspending the recovery mission in the communist state, accusing North Korea of creating an atmosphere dangerous to U.S. workers.
North Korean officials say no member of a U.S. recovery team had ever been at risk, and accused the Bush Administration of politicizing the humanitarian effort.
Since the recovery operation began in 1996, more than 200 sets of remains have been found.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
