Vietnam Agrees to Let U.S. Hunt for the Top 70 MIAs : Joint Effort Offered on Excavations

BANGKOK, Thailand — Vietnam’s foreign minister has pledged to try to resolve by the end of the year 70 cases of missing U.S. servicemen that the United States considers of highest priority, Voice of Vietnam said today.

Minister Nguyen Co Thach was quoted as saying he also welcomes U.S. participation in joint excavations for the remains of missing servicemen for three months starting in August.

The United States is trying to account for nearly 1,800 Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War, which ended in April, 1975, with a communist victory over the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese government.

In August, 1987, the United States gave Thach a list of 70 cases of missing U.S. servicemen and asked Vietnam to pursue them on a priority basis. Washington said that in these so-called “discrepancy cases,” there is strong evidence that the missing men had been captured alive and that the Vietnamese know what happened to them.

The men, however, were not returned with other prisoners of war in 1973, and their remains have not been among those returned since.

U.S. forces lost 58,000 soldiers during the war.

Communication Received

The radio broadcast, monitored in Bangkok, said Thach wrote a letter July 9 to retired Gen. John W. Vessey, a special presidential envoy, in which he urged the United States to “carry out all agreements relating to humanitarian issues relating to Vietnam.”

The letter apparently referred to an August, 1987, agreement between Thach and Vessey in which Vietnam agreed to accelerate the search for MIA remains. In return, Washington sent in medical teams and encouraged private agencies to help the former enemy with medical problems, including rehabilitation of veterans disabled in the war.

Hanoi has indicated it wants more U.S. help. In addition, it has been seeking an end to the U.S. embargo on most aid and trade, which has hindered efforts to boost its sagging economy.

The official radio said Vessey welcomed Vietnam’s readiness to hold joint excavations for remains. It said that in a letter Monday, Vessey said he hopes cooperation between the two countries is expanded and “also affirmed that the U.S. side will continue trying to respond to Vietnam’s humanitarian concerns.”

‘Welcomes Joint Efforts’

Voice of Vietnam said: “Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach affirms Vietnam’s efforts to solve before the end of this year 70 cases of Americans missing in action considered priority by the U.S. side. He welcomes the U.S. side for joint efforts in seeking out and excavating the remains of MIAs in August, September and October this year.”

In late 1985, the two countries carried out a joint excavation of a U.S. B-52 crash site to search for remains, but there have been no additional excavations despite Vietnamese pledges to hold them.

This month, Vietnam turned over what were believed to be the remains of 25 U.S. servicemen, one of the largest returns of remains since the war ended.

In Washington, Administration spokesmen said American and Vietnamese officials will meet next week in Hanoi to discuss the joint search efforts.

“We are pleased to confirm that Vietnam has offered to work jointly with the United States on concerted efforts to resolve the issue of American military and civilian personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War,” said State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley. A Pentagon spokesman read an identical statement.

The Vietnamese offer stemmed from a meeting in New York on June 8 between Vessey and the Vietnamese foreign minister “to discuss accelerated cooperation on humanitarian issues of concern,” Oakley said.