United States and North Korea maintain to repatriate the remains of Korean War soldiers

Receive last minute alerts and special reports. The United States and North Korea spoke on Sunday to discuss the return of more than 5,000 remains of American soldiers still missing from the Korean War.

The talks, which took place in the demilitarized zone between the Koreas, follow a commitment made by the North at the June 12 summit in Singapore to recover the remains of US prisoners of war and missing persons.

This is the first time in nine years that the first American and North Korean general officers have spoken. US and North Korean authorities have agreed to resume joint field activities to search for the remains of Americans missing from the war, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement

" The talks today were productive and cooperative. "Pompeo said in a statement. However, no specific date has been given for the transfer of these recovered remains. Work Level Discussions Will Continue Monday

At the end of June, the US Army announced that it had begun moving coffins to the Korean village of Panmunjom in preparation for North Korea's return of the remains of US soldiers missing. the 1950-53 Korean War

Between 1996 and 2005, the US-North Korean Joint Military Search Team conducted 33 recovery operations that collected 229 sets of US remains.

But efforts to recover and return others remain stalled a decade because of the development of nuclear weapons in the North, which has led the United States to assert that they could not guarantee the security of recovery teams sent under the administration of former president George W. Bush

Earlier this month, Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang where he met with the vice president and former chief of Kim Yong Chol and the two agreed that the United States and North Korea would meet around July 12. The commitment to recover the remains of US soldiers as "the most significant part of the agreement" between the United States and North Korea at the Singapore summit in mid-June.

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Trump repeatedly boasted of the "incredible success" of his meeting with Kim Jong Un but, from now on, no remains have been returned as a result of the meeting.

At a rally in Duluth, Minnesota, on June 20, Trump told the crowd that the remains of more than 200 had already been returned, and the next day, the president remarked during the meeting. a cabinet meeting

"They have already fired or are returning the remains of our great heroes," said Trump.

Trump reiterated the request on June 23. The military authorities then reported the statement claiming that no remains had been repatriated from the summit.

More than 36,500 American soldiers died in the Korean War, according to military data