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Lolita C. Baldor, Ahn Young-Joon and Kim Tong-Hyung, Associated Press
Published Thursday, July 26, 2018 11:37 PM EDT
Last Updated on Friday, July 27, 2018 3:11 PM EDT
WASHINGTON – North Korea's President Donald Trump has thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for "honoring a promise" to return the remains of US soldiers who have disappeared from the Korean War, a US military aircraft on a voyage exceptional in North Korea to recover 55 cases supposed to contain remains.
Nearly 7,700 American soldiers are still missing from the 1950-53 Korean War, and about 5,300 of them were lost in North Korea.
Trump's diplomacy with Pyongyang, and can revive efforts to send American teams into the country to search for other war dead.
But Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned that the transfer of remains is separate from what has been disturbed until here. negotiate the complete denuclearization of North Korea. But he said it was a step in the right direction after the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore
"It's obviously a gesture to postpone what they agreed to in Singapore and we take it as such, "Mattis told reporters on Friday. . We consider it to be a first step in a revived process, so we want to explore extra efforts to bring others home. "
Despite the rhetoric about denuclearization before the Singapore meeting, the summit ended with a vague aspiration.The goal of a denuclearized Korean peninsula without describing how and when that would happen
Subsequent talks between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and top North Korean officials kicked off earlier this month, with the North accusing the Americans of making unilateral, gangster-type demands for denuclearization. Pompeo said that much work remained to be done before a denuclearization agreement in North Korea, but he refused to provide a timetable.
Trump, addressing reporters on the South Lawn, said the Vice President Mike Pence "
" We receive a lot from others, but I want to thank President Kim in front of the media for keeping a promise that he made me. " , e I am sure that he will continue to fulfill this mission. promised as they seek and seek and seek, "Trump says.
" These incredible American heroes will soon be resting on the sacred American soil, "he added.
Pence, the son of a veteran of Korean war fighter, said In a statement that he will attend the ceremony when the remains arrive in the United States, the United Command stated that the remains will be transported to Hawaii immediately after a ceremony. Full Honors in Seoul Wednesday
"It is deeply humble to be part of this historic moment," said Pence.We will never forget the sacrifices that these brave soldiers and their families made for our nation and our freedoms .
Friday morning in Korea, a US-C-17 transport aircraft made a rare trip to North Korea to recover 55 cases of what appears to be remnants of the Korean War . The plane then flew from Wonsan to Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, near the South Korean capital of Seoul.
On the air base, US military and a military honor guard lined up on the tarmac to receive the remains transported. boxes covered with blue flags. Officials in North Korea have not commented on the transfer, which took place on the 65th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.
Once the cases arrive in Hawaii, a series of forensic examinations will be conducted to determine and whether the dead were American or Allied troops killed in the conflict.
Mattis emphasized this looming question, saying "we do not know who is in these boxes." But he said the move is important for the families of the victims, who could include any of the allies who also fought in the war. "We have families who have received the telegram, have never had a closure," said Mattis. "They never went out and sent the body away."
More than 36,000 American soldiers died in the conflict, including those missing in action.
The repatriation of the remains may be followed by stronger North Korean demands for expedited talks to formally end the war, which was stopped with an armistice and not a peace treaty. The South Korean Ministry of Defense also said the North had agreed to general-level military talks next week in a border village to discuss the reduction of tensions across the heavily armed border of these countries
. Korea has been stored for a while and has probably been recovered from the land during agriculture or construction. The vast majority of war victims, however, still have to be located and recovered from cemeteries and battlefields across the countryside.
Efforts to recover the American war dead have been stalled for more than a decade. The program and a previous US badertion that security measures for staff working in the North were inadequate.
From 1996 to 2005, US-North Korean military research teams conducted 33 recovery operations. North Korea's last visit dates back to 2007, when Bill Richardson, former UN ambbadador and governor of New Mexico, got the return of six sets.
Washington stated that Pyongyang would not get any sanctions and rewards, unless it does commit itself firmly to totally and verifiably eliminate its nuclear weapons. There are lingering doubts as to whether Kim would ever agree to completely surrender his nuclear weapons, that he might view it as a guarantee of survival stronger than any security guarantee that the United States could offer.
Ahn reports from Pyeongtaek, South Korea. Kim reported from Seoul and Baldor from Washington. AP reporters Eric Talmadge in Pyongyang, North Korea, Kim Yong-ho in Pyeongtaek, Foster Klug in Seoul, and Ken Thomas and Sagar Meghani in Washington contributed to this report
