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From United Press International - Washington, May 21 (UPI) -- President Clinton phoned the Rev. Jesse Jackson from Air Force One on Thursday to congratulate him for his successful negotiations to free three U.S. prisoners of war from Yugoslavia and to discuss Jackson's other missions to African nations. White House spokesman Joe Lockhart (Friday) denied that the delayed call signaled any strain in their relationship or that the president was trying to "kiss and make up." The White House had refused to sanction or support Jackson's mission to Belgrade.

7th South Korean POW Escapes the North - From the Associated Press May 10th - "A South Korean prisoner of war has returned home after being held captive in North Korea for nearly a half century, intelligence officials said Monday."

"Huh Pan-young, 73, arrived in Seoul from a third country where he had lived in hiding since escaping the hunger-stricken North in April last year, they said. The officials gave no further details. The government usually uses the term "third country" to refer to China, which is required by treaty to return undocumented North Koreans to their homeland."

"Officials said Huh, an army private, was captured four months after the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950. He had been forced to work at a coal mine in North Korea until he escaped, they said. Huh is the seventh South Korean POW to escape North Korea and return home..."

North Korea Repatriates Remains - From the Associated Press May 14th - By Y.J. AHN - "North Korea returned the remains today of what are believed to be six U.S. soldiers killed nearly a half-century ago during the Korea War. About 30 visiting American veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War saluted as the remains contained in aluminum caskets were handed over at the border village of Panmunjom...."

"...The remains were being sent to a U.S. Army laboratory in Hawaii for possible identification. The soldiers are believed to have served with the U.S. Army's 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, the U.S. military command in Seoul said...."

"...U.S. officials said the remains were discovered by a joint U.S.-North Korean search team within the last month along the Chong Chon River, 100 miles north of Pyongyang, the North's capital. The U.S. Eighth Army and Chinese communist forces fought in the area in November 1950, they said."

"The recovery was the first of six joint searches scheduled for this year and the 10th since collaborations began in 1996. In all, the joint searches have yielded 35 sets of remains believed to be U.S. soldiers. Three have been identified...."

".....Washington has said that recovering the U.S. war dead from the Korean conflict is a key factor in improving ties between North Korea and the United States."

Department of Defense Establishes Policy For Disinterment of Unidentified Remains - In a Press Release, dated May 21, 1999, the Dept. of Defense issued their policy for the disinterment of Unidentified Korea War Remains buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl. The statement reads:

"The Department of Defense today announced a policy to facilitate the use of DNA technology to identify Korean War and World War II remains previously classified as "unknown" and interred in national cemeteries. In 1995, the Department certified the use of mitochondrial DNA technology as a reliable forensic tool, and has improved and refined the use of mtDNA technology since then.

This is a natural fulfillment of our commitment to the fullest possible accounting of America's missing in action servicemen," said Robert L. Jones, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs. "After our work in identifying the former Vietnam Unknown from the Tomb of the Unknowns, it became clear we could apply the same science to other unknowns, in particular, those buried in the Punchbowl cemetery in Hawaii," he added.

In 1998, the Department identified the Vietnam Unknown as U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie, using mtDNA from the remains and matched sequences with those from his family. He was killed in Vietnam in 1972, classified as an unknown, and interred in the Tomb in 1984. The cemetery with the greatest number of gravesites containing unknown remains is the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly called the Punchbowl. This cemetery contains 864 remains of unidentified soldiers from the Korean War. Most of these remains were received by the United States at the ceasefire in 1953. Another 204 were turned over by the North Koreans between 1991 and 1994 and are currently in the possession of the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii.

The records associated with each of the unknown remains in the Punchbowl cemetery will undergo rigorous evaluation before a decision is made to disinter. CILHI will first determine if there is strong circumstantial evidence associating a serviceman's name with a set of remains. Since mitochondrial DNA is expected to be used to identify most of these remains, a comparison blood sample must be obtained from a family member from the serviceman's maternal bloodline. Scientists believe approximately 70 cases may be candidates for disinterment.

The CILHI will direct the disinterment and will seek to identify each of the remains through forensic identification processes, including DNA. This laboratory identified the remains of Blassie in 1998. For the past five years CILHI has applied the science of mtDNA to approximately 45 per cent of its cases." -END-

DOD states: "In 1995, the Department certified the use of mitochondrial DNA technology as a reliable forensic tool, and has improved and refined the use of mtDNA technology since then."

WRONG! The effectiveness of mt-DNA testing is severely limited. Unless there is strong circumstantial evidence, the test is all but useless. Even with strong circumstantial evidence the test, at its best, offers only the probability of an identification. DOD once used mt-DNA as a primary or sole means of identification. Today, even DOD admits the limitations of mt-DNA testing and states it is no longer used as a primary or sole means of identification.

Recently the validity of mt-DNA testing suffered another blow. According to Reuters of London "....Evolutionary biologists, who used mitochondrial to trace human evolution, had estimated that the woman from whom all others descended lived between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago. But two studies reported in the journal Proceeding of the Royal Society discovered that using mitochondrial DNA to track genetic lineage isn't as accurate as scientists had assumed."

"Mitochondrial DNA was thought to be the best way to trace human evolution because researchers believed it was passed on virtually unchanged from mother to daughter. But research by Eyre-Walker and his colleagues and a team of researchers led by Erika Hagelberg of Cambridge University discovered that some mitochondrial DNA from the father also enters the egg and mixes with the maternal mitochondrial DNA. "

"... If mitochondrial DNA was solely inherited from the mother it would trace back to Eve. "But if you have some paternal contribution, essentially those two most divergent DNA molecules are some sort of average age," said Eyre-Walker."

"In addition to pushing back the age of Eve, the finding makes the tracing of human evolution more difficult. Much of the work in human evolution has involved mitochondrial DNA, said Eyre-Walker, and the finding could cast doubt on some of is validity."

"It is the first evidence of recombination between paternal and maternal mitochondrial DNA," he said. "It's going to take some time to work out exactly what the implications are."

WHO ARE THEY KIDDING! - Michael Blassie was NEVER unknown, except to his family. His identification was made based on many factors, the least of which was the mt-DNA testing.

DOD conveniently forgets the facts that the remains were recovered with an ID card, ejection seat from the exact aircraft Blassie was flying, parts of a parachute, a one man life raft and portions of a flight suit. Additionally, witnesses to the recovery were available and provide statements that the remains were recovered with an ID card reading Michael J. Blassie. One witness statement, signed by Army Captain Richard Hess reads: "...basic characteristics I remember about ID card: Name Blassie, Michael Jospeh, 1LT, 6 foot 200 lbs picture showed his with mustache, dark hair."

That statement remained in the file of remains designated TSN 0673-72 (X-26) BTB (Believed to Be) Michael J. Blassie, until April 1984. At that time the statement and others were ordered removed from the file by none other than the Commander of the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CIL-HI) Johnie Webb. (Why Does Johnie Webb Still Have A Job?)

Why does DOD continue to represent the the facts of the Blassie identification? When will DOD admit the Vietnam Unknown was never "Unknown." When will they admit Michael Blassie's remains were stolen from his family, in order to create an Unknown Soldier.

DOD States: CILHI will first determine if there is strong circumstantial evidence associating a serviceman's name with a set of remains."

Our Question: Why isn't X-656, Louis P. Mutta, a candidate for exhumation under the new DOD Policy? The circumstantial evidence certainly exists.

Can mt-DNA be extracted from burnt remains? DOD says no, not yet. Our independent mt-DNA expert says yes. In fact, he says mt-DNA has been successfully extracted from cremated remains.

Since everything we've ever written about mt-DNA testing has proven correct, we believe that mt-DNA can be extracted from burnt remains. Maybe, AFDIL just isn't capable of doing it. After all, they made the Mark Judge identification. Remember that one. The identification went from a unique match of mother to son, to a match to 64 references samples in the total data base at the time.

The Associated Press Reports there are some 70 candidates for exhumation at the Punchbowl. Information provided to the National Alliance of Families indicates the number could be as high as 100.

The National Alliance of Families Tenth Annual Forum is scheduled for June 17th - 19th, at the Wyndham (formerly Sheraton) Center City Hotel, Washington D.C. (same as last year.) Room rates at $105.00 per night. To make your reservation call 800-526-7495 or 202-775-0800. Remember to say you are with the Alliance. The National Alliance of Families is an ALL VOLUNTEER nonprofit organization. We are dependent upon public donations. Contributions are needed to keep the Alliance going. Donations may be mailed to: