The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) agency responsible for finding and repatriating the remains of missing Korean War veterans wants to return to North Korea next spring to restart its operations there, a spokesperson from the Defense Department’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) told NK News late Monday night.

The acknowledgment of the Defense Department’s plans to re-enter the North for the first time since 2005 comes just hours before the U.S. House of Representatives is set to hold an oversight hearing about the agency.