Almost 60 years after the end of the Korean War, the U.S. and North Korea have reached an agreement to resume searching for the bodies of American soldiers who died during that war and who remain unaccounted for after all these decades.

Having met for three days of talks with North Korean representatives in Bangkok, Thailand, the Pentagon said it reached an arrangement to resume recovering the remains of American servicemen missing from the Korean War.

The cooperation between Pyongyang and Washington had been ruptured for six years due to tensions arising from North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

According to reports, between 1996 and 2005, the remains of more than 200 U.S. troops were found.

The U.S. said that new search teams will commence recovery operations for more remains next year in an area about 60 miles north of Pyongyang, near the Chosin-Jangjin reservoir.

The U.S. Defense Department estimates that more than 2,000 American soldiers may be found in that region.

A total of 8,000 U.S. troops and personnel remain missing from the 1950-1953 war.

Washington further noted that searching for its missing soldiers was a stand-alone humanitarian matter, not tied to any other issue between the two countries.

Regarding North Korea’s nascent nuclear ambitions, negotiators from North Korea and the U.S. are scheduled to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, next week for talks on ending the program.

South Korea, Japan, Russia and China are also expected to participate in these talks.

Thailand Russia China Nuclear weapons