WORLD : U.S., Vietnam Agree to Expand Effort to Resolve Fates of MIAs

BANGKOK — The highest level U.S.-Vietnam talks in two years concluded today with agreement to expand efforts to resolve the fates of American servicemen missing in Vietnam, Radio Hanoi reported.

The radio said Gen. John W. Vessey, the U.S. presidential envoy, met Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Co Thach for “constructive” talks that included plans to resettle former Vietnamese re-education camp prisoners in the United States and the situation in Cambodia--the last obstacle to improved U.S.-Vietnamese relations.

The talks were the highest level official contacts between the two former foes since Vessey’s trip to Hanoi in 1987 when the two sides agreed to improve cooperation on Americans missing in Vietnam.

There are 1,698 Americans listed as missing in Vietnam. For at least 70 of those, the United States believes there is credible evidence the men may have survived to become prisoners of war. Vietnam has denied having any prisoners.