A group of remains handed over to the U.S. by North Korea on July 27 is deemed to be likely those of Americans, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s Chief Scientist said on Thursday.

Dr. John Byrd made the comments to the press via teleconference during a briefing at the Pentagon, which was led by agency director Kelly McKeague.

“What we saw were remains that were consistent with what we have found from the Korean War recoveries we have done over the years. We found remains consistent with being Americans,” Byrd told the press. 

Byrd explained that initial analysis of the remains included anthropological