Vietnamese military leaders' assurance that they would help the United States recover the remains of Americans missing in action in the Vietnam War should not be accorded full credence or an exaggerated sense of optimism.

This isn't the first time Vietnamese officials have made such a promise.

There currently are 1,805 American troops unaccounted for from the war, according to Marine Maj. Jay Rutter, deputy commander of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, which heads the recovery efforts in this country. Of that total, 1,376 of the unaccounted-for troops are believed to have been killed in Vietnam; the other remains are believed to be in Laos and Cambodia.

Of those lost in Vietnam, the number is proof that Vietnamese officials didn't work hard enough to fulfill previous pledges. The officials' new promise raises the question of what the Vietnamese might now be hoping to receive from this country as a result of making their latest pledge.

Whatever the Vietnamese desire should hinge upon substantive results in the search for remains.

In regard to the missing, the United States is seeking greater access to Vietnamese achives, as well as information Vietnam might have about Americans lost in Cambodia and Laos.

Vietnam's new promise of help came from that country's military leaders during a meeting in Hanoi with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld called the recovery of remains a national priority for the United States.

That important point was made a number of times in the past during U.S. efforts to acquire Vietnamese cooperation regarding the troubling issue. However, the help extended up to now can be considered lackadaisical at best.

Vietnam as a nation has its own challenges and problems on which to exert its primary attention. That's understandable.

However, finally putting to rest the POW-MIA issue is in Vietnam's best interests in terms of improving relations between the two countries.

Some people might consider it premature to greet Vietnam's latest promise with pessimism. Based on past experience, it isn't.

The challenge for Vietnam is to prove that pessimism wrong.

The government of Vietnam knows more about the fate of missing U.S. service personnel than it's up to now been willing to disclose.

It is to be hoped Rumsfeld made no promises that will allow Vietnam to obtain some benefit without keeping its side of the bargain.