Some 2,100 U.S. prisoners of war (POWs) are presumed to be alive from the Korean War (1950-53) as of the end of last year, the Department of Veterans Affairs said.
A tally released earlier this month by the department said 7,140 American servicemen were captured and interned during the war, 2,701 died in captivity and 4,418 were returned to the U.S. side.
The tally also showed that 21 Korean War soldiers had refused to return to the United States, the only group to do so among veterans of all the wars the U.S. has engaged in. Of these, one died, one remained in China, and the others have settled in other Western countries, it said.
The number of presumed surviving POWs from the Korean War is approximately a 4 percent decrease from the year 2003, as it is based on estimated male veteran deaths and population by period of service for each corresponding year.
By military branch, the 7,140 POWs included 6,656 from the Army, 35 from the Navy, 225 from the Marine Corps, and 224 from the Air Force. Of those who died while in captivity, 2,662 of them were with the Army, four with the Navy, 31 with the Marine Corps and four with the Air Force.
All of the 21 servicemen who refused to come back to the U.S. were with the Army.
Of the 2,100 POWs thought to still survive, 1,900 are believed to be from the Army and 100 each from the Marine Corps and the Air Force.
The department's records show 142,246 Americans were captured and interned during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Somalia and Kosovo conflicts and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
According to the records, 17,009 died while POWs and 125,214 were returned to U.S. military control.
They estimate 29,350 are still alive as of end of 2005.
Washington, Sept. 10 (Yonhap News)
About 2,100 American POWs from Korean War presumed alive: U.S. tally |
