North Korea returns remains of U.S. Soldiers
News & Trends •
it was a successful mission following extensive coordination general vincent brooks commander of the unc and united states forces korea said in a statement1 a us military aircraft flew the remains of american servicemen out of north korea on friday a move hailed by the white house as a positive step for the fragile detente between the two rivals1 after so many years this will be a great moment for so many families. thank you to kim jong un trump said in a tweet1 the white house said it was encouraged by the return of the remains and the momentum for positive change1 todays actions represent a significant first step to recommence the repatriation of remains from north korea and to resume field operations in north korea to search for the estimated 5300 americans who have not yet returned home it said1 after leaving the north korean port city of wonsan the c-17 cargo plane landed at the osan us air base in south korea at around 0200 gmt where live tv images showed american soldiers lined up for a ceremony1 the united nations command unc in south korea said 55 sets of remains were on board the plane1 the return of the remains on the 65th anniversary of the end of the korean war marks the partial fulfilment of an agreement reached between us president donald trump and north korean leader kim jong un at their historic summit in singapore last month1 now we will prepare to honour our fallen before they continue on their journey home1 more than 35000 americans were killed on the korean peninsula during the war out of which around 7700 are still considered missing including 5300 in north korea alone according to the pentagon1 between 1990 and 2005 229 sets of remains from the north were repatriated but those operations were suspended when ties deteriorated over pyongyangs nuclear weapons programme1 the remains flown to osan on friday are expected to be sent to hawaii for forensic identification following a formal repatriation ceremony next wednesday1 trump has hailed his summit agreement with kim as effectively ending the north korean nuclear threat although it contained only an ill-defined commitment on pyongyangs part to the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula a long way from the complete verifiable and irreversible disarmament demanded by washington1 the issue of repatriating remains of american war dead was seen as a far less contentious one and the summit agreement specified the immediate return of those remains already identified1 according to us officials north korea is estimated to have as many as 200 sets of remains ready for delivery1