“我的国家不是食人族！”

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says his nation does not deserve to be labelled cannibals, and urged the US to clear up the remnants of World War Two littered across the Pacific, after remarks by President Joe Biden last week about his missing serviceman uncle.

Biden had "appeared to imply his uncle was eaten by cannibals after his plane was shot down over PNG during WWII", Marape's office said in a statement late on Sunday.

"President Biden's remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labelled as such," Marape said. 

Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands remain littered with wartime human remains, plane wrecks, ship wrecks and tunnels, as well as leftover bombs that were still killing people, he said. 

In his statement, Marape urged the White House "to look into cleaning up these remains of WWII so the truth about missing servicemen like Ambrose Finnegan can be put to rest."