An organisation representing Dutch veterans who fought in North Korea has asked prime minister Mark Rutte to do his best to recover the bodies of five Dutch soldiers who died in the country in the 1950s.

Three of the five soldiers were reported missing in 1951, 52 and 53, a fourth is known to have died in 1951 and the fifth was taken prisoner and died there, website Nu.nl said on Wednesday.

‘Only when their bodies are returned will the families be able to say goodbye to their loved ones in a meaningful way,’ the VOKS said in a letter to Rutte.

The letter goes on to refer to the return of the bodies of several dozen US soldiers who died in North Korea in line, with an agreement struck between US president Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.

The Netherlands contributed 4,700 soldiers to UN efforts to end the Korean war of 1950 to 1953.

The five missing soldiers should be buried in the UN cemetery in Busan, South Korea, where 117 other Dutch soldiers who died in the conflict were laid to rest, the VOKS said.

The prime minister’s office said in response to the letter that while it had great sympathy for the organisation’s request, repatriating the bodies ‘will probably not be easy to realise’.