The US said searches would start again next year in an area north of the DPRK capital Pyongyang.

US teams are due to start recovery efforts next year in an area around 100km north of Pyongyang where more than 2,000 soldiers and marines are believed to have gone missing during the 1950-53 war, the US Department of Defence said.

The US insisted that accounting for missing soldiers is ‘a stand-alone humanitarian matter, not tied to any other issue between the two countries’.

The department said it had concluded arrangements with the DPRK that will "ensure the effectiveness and safety" of teams heading into the isolated and impoverished country.

Recovery operations stopped amid tension over the DPRK's nuclear programs.

Between 1996 and 2005, remains have been found of more than 200 Americans.

BBC