Trump Thanks Kim as N.Korea Sends Remains of Korean War Soldiers
27 July 2018 12:26 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Seoul - North Korea transferred 55 small, flag-draped cases carrying the suspected remains of U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War on Friday, July 27, officials said, a first step by Pyongyang to implement an agreement made in a landmark summit in June in Singapore.
The repatriation of remains of U.S. soldiers missing in the 1950-53 conflict is seen as a modest diplomatic coup for U.S. President Donald Trump because it was one of the agreements reached during his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12.
"After so many years, this will be a great moment for so many families. Thank you to Kim Jong Un," Trump wrote on Twitter.
A White House statement about two hours earlier said: "We are encouraged by North Korea's actions and the momentum for positive change."
A U.S. military transport plane flew to an airfield in North Korea's northeastern city of Wonsan to bring the remains to Osan air base in South Korea, the White House statement said.
Soldiers in dress uniforms with white gloves were seen slowly carrying 55 small cases covered with the blue-and-white United Nations insignia, placing them one by one into silver vans waiting on the tarmac in Osan.
Straight-backed officers looked on next to the flags of the United States, South Korea and the United Nations.
A formal repatriation ceremony would be held at Osan on Wednesday, the White House said.
The remains would then be flown to Hawaii for further processing under the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the U.N. Command said in a statement.
The transfer of the remains coincided with the 65th anniversary of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended fighting, although the two Koreas are technically still at war because a peace treaty was never signed.
More than 7,700 U.S. troops who fought in the Korean War remain unaccounted for, with about 5,300 of those lost in what is now North Korea.
REUTERS
