PANMUNJOM, May 16 (KCNA) -- The spokesman for the Panmunjom mission of the Korean People's Army (KPA) released a statement today over the fact that remains of U.S. servicemen discovered in the north of Korea have not been transferred to the U.S. side.

The spokesman said: The first joint discovery operation was carried out in Kujang, North Phyongan Province, from April 21 to May 14 to search for remains of U.S. servicemen under the agreement reached at DPRK-U.S. working-level talks.

Through the operation two sets of GI remains were discovered thanks to sincere efforts of both sides, but they have not been transferred to the U.S. side due to its unreasonable behavior.

As the agreement concerning this year's joint discovery operations was reached between the KPA and the U.S. Department of Defense, we demanded that a delegate of the U.S. Department of Defense take over the remains at Panmunjom. But the U.S. side demanded that the remains be transferred to the "UN Forces" side.

From the technical point of view, the signatories to the agreement are the DPRK and the United States and it is the KPA and the U.S. Department of Defense that are implementing the agreement.

So, the "UN Forces" have no reason to interfere in the transfer of the remains.

The DPRK-U.S. agreement reached in New York in December last year also stipulates that the discovered remains shall be repatriated through Panmunjom. It makes no mention about transfer to the "UN Forces" side. At the April 3 colonel-level preparatory contact for talks between general officers, the KPA side made clear that it will not have a contact again unless the "UN Forces" side, which has not responded to the talks, changes its position. The U.S. authorities must know of it.

The United States is inveigling the "UN Forces" in the repatriation of remains, a humanitarian issue which should be solved between the DPRK and the United States, apparently for an ulterior political purpose.