(CNN) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Sunday that the United States and North Korea agreed to recommence field operations to search for the estimated 5,300 Americans who never returned home from the Korean War.

The US and North Korea will jointly engage in the searches for the yet-to-be-located service members' remains, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert confirmed; she could not say when those would begin.

The joint US-North Korea program to search for remains began in 1996 but was suspended in 2005 due to rising nuclear tensions.

Pompeo called the talks over the weekend that led to the announcement "productive, cooperative and resulted in firm commitments."

In addition to the announcement on joint searches, the US and North Korea are working to transfer the remains of what could be 200 American service members in the 14 to 21 days "subject to change without notification," a US official told CNN.

Read More