Washington – North Korea Expected To Begin Transferring Remains Of U.S. Troops Soon

    8

    U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un hold a signing ceremony at the conclusion of their summit at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore June 12, 2018. Picture taken June 12, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Washington – North Korea could start the process of handing over the remains of troops, including Americans, missing from the Korean War within the next few days, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said North Korea would hand over the remains to United Nations Command in South Korea, and they would then be transferred to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

    One official said “a sizable number” of remains were expected to be handed over, but declined to give a specific number given the unpredictability of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

    It could take months or even years before the remains are positively identified, the officials added.

    U.S. President Donald Trump met with Kim at a historic summit last week in Singapore.

    In a news conference following the summit, Trump said North Korea had agreed to return the remains of U.S. soldiers.

    “(The families) want the remains of their fathers, and mothers, and all of the people that got caught into that really brutal war,” Trump said.

    “And (Kim) agreed to that so quickly and so nice – it was really a very nice thing, and he understands it,” Trump added.

    About 7,700 U.S. military personnel remain unaccounted from the 1950-1953 Korean War, U.S. military data shows. According to the Pentagon, North Korean officials have indicated in the past that they have the remains of as many as 200 U.S. troops. More than 36,500 U.S. troops died in the conflict.

    The remains of some U.S. soldiers were last returned in 2007, when then-New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson visited Pyongyang.

    Trump has hailed the Singapore summit as a success, but skeptics have questioned whether he achieved anything new, given that Pyongyang, which has rejected unilateral nuclear disarmament, appeared to make no new concrete commitments.

    Transferring the remains would mark the first step Kim has taken since the summit that could indicate he may be serious about improving relations with Washington.

    On Monday, the United States and South Korea said they had agreed to suspend a joint military exercise scheduled for August.

    U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would likely travel back to North Korea “before too terribly long” to try to flesh out commitments made at the summit.

    Pompeo, who has traveled twice to North Korea this year and met Kim for a third time at the June 12 Singapore summit, told an audience in Detroit that Kim had made “very clear his commitment to fully denuclearize his country,” but there was a great deal of work to do.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    8 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    5 years ago

    If Obama or Clinton had met with Kim Jong Un, the news media would have been kissing their feet for weeks with praise; yet, because it was Trump who met with him, and began the process of finally (after nearly 70 years) ending the Korean War, there have been numerous verbal and written potshots taken at him, including those from our own esteemed Yonason W, and Hashomer. We are indeed fortunate to have such distinguished scholars on this site, as those two add excitement to the discussion. I was wondering if there are others who agree with that hypothesis?

    PaulinSaudi
    PaulinSaudi
    5 years ago

    Why would anyone care about this? Let them rest.

    rogergreen
    rogergreen
    5 years ago

    hey paul,thats why youre in saudi!

    5 years ago

    To #2 - What is your problem? Don’t you think that families of deceased soldiers, would like them to have a proper burial in a military family or in a family plot close to home? Even the Japanese are still looking for remains to this date, of their soldiers from the Japanese Imperial Army. In fact, they have excavated caves on Iwo Jima, as well as other islands (i.e. Palau), where Japanese troops died in battle.