U.S. House lawmakers have introduced a resolution calling for resuming talks with North Korea to uncover and bring home the remains of thousands of American soldiers who went missing during the Korean War from the communist nation.

Three Korean War veterans in the House -- Reps. Charles Rangel (D-NY), John Conyers (D-MI) and Sam Johnson (R-TX) -- introduced the resolution Friday on the eve of the 66th anniversary of the war's outbreak, saying the remains of at least 5,300 Americans are believed to be buried in the North.

"The House of Representatives calls upon the United States government to resume talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to make substantial progress in the research, investigation, recovery, and identification of missing and unaccounted members of the United States Armed Forces from the Korean War," the resolution said.

Between 1954 and 2005, the remains of thousands of Americans were brought home from the North, but such efforts have been suspended since 2005 "despite the fact that the remains of 5,300 out of the total 8,000 unaccounted Korean War veterans are estimated to be in North Korea," the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

In 1996, the U.S. and the North launched joint recovery operations and uncovered hundreds of sets of remains before the operations were suspended in 2005 amid high tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

"I am grateful to my colleagues and fellow Korean War veterans for working together to ensure that we bring these veterans home. This resolution would ensure that the heroic service members of the Korean War are identified and brought back to their loved ones in the United States, where they belong," Rangel said in the statement.

"We have a responsibility to our veterans to make sure we do not forget their sacrifices made to defend the freedoms we enjoy. Their families deserve peace," he said.

Johnson said, "As a Korean War veteran and former prisoner of war, I believe we owe our fallen brothers in arms every last effort to provide a proper and dignified return home." Conyers said it is "simply unacceptable" that more than 5,000 American soldiers remain missing from the war.

"As a veteran of the Korean conflict, I feel honor bound to ensure we do everything we can to bring their remains home,” Conyers said. “After all our fighting men in Korea sacrificed, it is our duty to make sure we do everything to provide them and their families some measure of peace." (Yonhap)