Overview
- The DPAA and South Korea’s recovery agency began a four-week survey Monday in Gangneung and Yangyang on the country’s northeast coast.
- Teams will interview local residents, collect potential evidence, and confirm access to medical decompression chambers needed for diving in August.
- Investigators are tracing three 1952 crashes, including a transport that went down on November 15 with nine aboard, a February 21 fighter crash near Yangyang, and an October 16 transport that crashed off Gangneung with 17 aboard.
- The mission follows a memorandum signed in Arlington, Virginia, that formalized closer U.S.–South Korea cooperation on recovery and identification work.
- Nearly 7,400 Americans from the Korean War remain unaccounted for, and any remains recovered could finally give families answers about loved ones lost more than seven decades ago.