When North Korea returned over 55 boxes of what it said were the remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War, they came with only one military dog tag.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that it could take months or years to identify the remains. The official could not say what name was on the dog tag or whether it even belonged to an American.
The remains were transported last week to the coastal city of Wonsan, North Korea before they were flown back to an air base in South Korea.
The returning of the remains come as a result of a deal reached last month during a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
Although the Korean War lasted from 1950 until 1953, the war never formally ended and a peace treaty was never signed.
Around 5,300 Americans did not return home from the conflict.
A repatriation ceremony for the remains is set for Wednesday. After that, they will be taken to Hawaii, where they will begin undergoing forensic analysis to try to identify whom they belong to.
However, a report by Reuters said that even when dog tags have been provided in the past, the remains have not always been able to be identified as those of U.S. troops.
Pyongyang stated that it has the remains of about 200 people which they believe are U.S. soldiers that died in the Korean War.
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