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Ahn Young-Joon, Kim Tong-Hyung and Lolita Baldor, Associated Press
Published Thursday, July 26, 2018 11:37 PM EDT
Last Updated on Friday, July 27, 2018 10:59 EDT
WASHINGTON – North Korean President Donald Trump on Friday thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for "keeping a promise" to return the remains of US soldiers missing from the Korean War, while a US military aircraft was making an exceptional trip to North Korea. North Korea has returned the remains of US servicemen killed during the Korean War, a handover that followed Kim's promise to Trump when the leaders met in June in Singapore. The first tangible result of the highly publicized
Trump summit, addressing reporters on the South Lawn, said that a plane was carrying the remains "of some great fallen American heroes of war of Korea. " He said Vice President Mike Pence would salute the families and the remains of the soldiers, and the president thanked Kim for "keeping her word."
"We have many more to come but I want to thank President Kim in front of the media for fulfilling a promise he has made and I am sure he will continue to fulfill that promise as they seek and seek and seek, "said Trump. He said that "these incredible American heroes will soon be resting on the sacred American soil."
United Nations Command stated that 55 cases of remains were recovered in North Korea. The White House has confirmed that a US C-17 Air Force aircraft containing fallen military remains had left Wonsan, a northern coastal town, to travel to Osan Air Force Base at Pyeongtaek, near Seoul, the South Korean capital. A formal repatriation ceremony will be held on Wednesday
On the air base, US military and a military honor guard lined up on the tarmac to receive the remains, which were transported in boxes covered with blue flags of the UN. 7,700 American soldiers went missing from the Korean War between 1950 and 1953 and 5,300 of them would still be in North Korea. The war killed millions of people, including 36,000 American soldiers
. In a statement from the US command, General Vincent K. Brooks, commander of the Korean forces, described the recovery mission as a success. "Now we will prepare to honor our dead before they continue their journey home."
After the honors ceremony Wednesday, the remains will be transported to Hawaii for scientific tests. A series of forensic examinations will be done to determine whether the remains are human and whether the dead were American or Allied troops killed in the conflict.
Trump late Thursday on the repatriation took place and said: "After so many years, this I want to thank Kim Jong Un."
The North Korean authorities have not commented the surrender Friday, the 65th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, which the country celebrated Despite the growing rhetoric on denuclearization before the meeting of Kim and Trump in Singapore, their summit ended with a vague ambitions for a denuclearized Korean peninsula without describing when and how
The repatriation of remnants could be followed by stronger North Korean demands for accelerated talks to officially end the war, which was halted by an armistice and not by a peace treaty. The South Korean Defense Ministry also said the North had agreed to general-level military negotiations next week in a border village to discuss reducing tensions between the two countries. built in Seoul were sent to the Korean Border Security Zone as part of the preparations to receive and transport the remains with dignity. Colonel Chad Carroll, spokesman for US forces in Korea, also said at the time that 158 metal transfer crates had been sent to a US air base and that they would be used to return the remains. at home.
of 200 that North Korea has been storing for some time, and have 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 was in 2007, when Bill Richardson, former US ambbadador and governor of New Mexico, won the return of six series.
The North celebrated the anniversary of this Friday. the capital Pyongyang and other cities were decorated with national flags and bright red banners. For the first time since 2015, Kim Jong Un announced that a general amnesty will be granted to prisoners who have committed crimes against the state.
North Korea has maintained the return of the remains as a symbol of its goodwill and intention to improve ties with Washington. Authorities have, however, inherited criticism from the United States for taking advantage of repatriation by demanding excessive charges for the handling and transport of remains.
Pyongyang nevertheless expressed its willingness to allow the resumption of joint research missions in the country. to recover more leftovers. Such missions had taken place from 1996 until their cancellation by President George W. Bush, due to increased tensions over the northern nuclear program in 2005.
Talks between Kim Trump and the Secretary of US state Mike Pompeo The beginning of the month was hectic as the North accused Americans of making "unilateral and gangster" demands for denuclearization. The North also said that US officials have proposed various "conditions and excuses" to revisit the issue of the official end of the war.
"The adoption of the declaration on the end of the war is the first and most important process, ending the extreme hostility and establishing new relations between the DPRK and the United States" , said Tuesday the Korean Central News Agency, in a statement, referring to North Korea under its official name. "Peace can come only after the declaration of cessation of war."
Pompeo said Wednesday that much work remains to be done before a denuclearization agreement in North Korea, but he dodged requests to identify a specific denuclearization agenda. According to the experts, a declaration of official cessation of the war, which could also involve Seoul and Beijing, would allow Pyongyang to direct talks with Washington towards a peace treaty, diplomatic recognition and security badurances. and economic benefits. Some badysts believe that North Korea will demand that the United States withdraw or dramatically reduce the 28,500 soldiers scattered in South Korea.
Washington maintained that Pyongyang would not get any significant economic and security sanctions and rewards committed firmly to totally and verifiably eliminate its nuclear weapons. There are lingering doubts about whether Kim would agree to give up his nuclear weapons completely, which he might view as a greater guarantee of survival than any security guarantees 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 in Washington contributed to this report
