Sergeant Richard George Desautels[1][2] was a United States Army corporal who was captured on December 1, 1950, at Sonchu by communist forces and not returned by North Korea at the end of the fighting of the Korean War.

Desautels was assigned to A Company, 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, when his unit was overrun by a Chinese assault near Kunu-ri, North Korea, on December 1, 1950.

[4] The People's Republic of China had said no Americans were moved to Chinese territory from North Korea, however, authorities from the People's Republic of China gave Pentagon officials details about Desautels in a March 2003 meeting in Beijing contradicting their prior claim.

That area has been cited as where prison(s) holding hundreds of American POWs were kept, possibly as a transfer point to bring them to Russia.

[5] According to Chinese reports, he was buried but his body was reburied during a construction project and the location is not known.