The four-day trip will be led by Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor and Democratic presidential candidate, and Anthony Principi, the former veteran affairs secretary for President Bush.

White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino announced the effort on Tuesday.

The bipartisan delegation has been invited by the North Korean government to help recover remains of missing servicemen, Perino said.

"The trip will reinforce progress already achieved in this area," Perino said. "A small number of U.S. officials will accompany the delegation to provide support and technical expertise."

The group is expected to oversee the transfer of remains from the North Korean army to United Nations Command personnel. The remains will then will be flown to Hawaii, where they will be examined for identification, the White House said.

More than 33,000 U.S. troops were killed in the Korean War, which began in June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. U.S. forces intervened on behalf of South Korea while Chinese forces backed North Korea.

More than 8,100 U.S. servicemen still are listed as missing from the Korean War.

In 2005, the U.S. government halted a separate cooperative program with North Korea that permitted U.S. military teams to excavate remains from North Korean battlefields. That program began in 1996 and led to the recovery of remains believed to be those of about 220 Soldiers. The Pentagon suspended it in 2005, saying the North Koreans had created an unsafe environment for the U.S. search teams.

The upcoming trip comes days before a crucial deadline in a landmark international nuclear agreement the North made in February.

North Korea has pledged that, in return for energy aid and political concessions, it would close down and seal its main nuclear plant by April 14. It also agreed to allow in U.N. nuclear inspectors to certify the shut down.

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