On Friday more than a month after his meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore the US President Donald Trump touted success after North Korea move
WASHINGTON, U. S. – After facing accusations of playing into the hands of the young North Korean dictator during their meeting last month, the U. S. President Donald Trump on Friday scored a modest diplomatic victory after North Korea transferred remains of some fallen U. S. soldiers.
On Friday, more than a month after his meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the U. S. President Donald Trump touted success after North Korea lived up to one of the agreements reached during the Singapore summit on June 12.
The White House confirmed that remains of an unspecified number of U. S. soldiers were repatriated from North Korea.
It said that North Korea had transferred the remains of U. S. soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, touting it as the latest step in thawing relations between Washington and Pyongyang.
The White House said in a statement, “Today, (Kim) is fulfilling part of the commitment he made to the President to return our fallen American service members. We are encouraged by North Korea’s actions and the momentum for positive change.”
It added that a U. S. Air Force C-17 aircraft flew to an airfield in North Korea’s northeastern city of Wonsan to bring the remains to Osan air base in South Korea.
The U. S. military plane had service members from the United Nations Command Korea, as well as experts from the Department of Defense’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).
The White House said, “The United States owes a profound debt of gratitude to those American service members who gave their lives in service to their country and we are working diligently to bring them home.”
The statement added that a formal repatriation ceremony will be held on Wednesday.
Reports noted that the transfer of the remains coincided with the 65th anniversary of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended fighting, and since a peace treaty wasn’t signed, the two Koreas are technically still at war.
Commenting on the move by Pyongyang, the South Korean President Moon Jae In has said that the return of the remains could boost the momentum for the nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
Later in the day, officials said that North Korea handed over 55 boxes, draped in the blue and white flag of the United Nations, carrying remains of U. S. soldiers.
At a White House event, Trump said, “At this moment a plane is carrying the remains of some great fallen heroes from America back from the Korean War. I want to thank Chairman Kim for keeping his word.”
He continued, “We have many others coming. But I want to thank Chairman Kim in front of the media for fulfilling a promise that he made to me. And I’m sure that he will continue to fulfill that promise as they search and search and search.”
The U. S. President added that Vice President Mike Pence would be with the families as the remains arrive back in the U. S.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters, U. S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that the remains would be reviewed initially in Korea before being flown to Hawaii for forensic identification.
He, however, said that it was still not known who was in the boxes.
Mattis said, “You noticed there was a UN blue flag on each of the boxes. Many of the UN nations with us also have missing. As we discover it, they’ll be returned and they could go to Australia; they have missing. France has missing. America has – there’s a whole lot of us.”
Adding, “We have families when they got the telegram have never had closure. They’ve never gone out and had the body returned. What we’re seeing here is an opportunity to give those families closure, to make certain that we continue to look for those remaining.”
During the June summit, Kim Jong Un had promised to hand over remains of U. S. soldiers, marines and airmen still unaccounted for since the 1950-53 Korean war – mainly as a goodwill gesture.
The bigger agreement was to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
Less than a week after concluding the summit, Trump delivered on his shocking declaration made during the summit, to end the “provocative” war games with South Korea.
The annual military drills between U. S. and South Korea were a legacy of the Korean War, which ended in 1953 in an armistice that left the two Koreas technically still at war.
However, North Korea believes that the multiple war games staged by the 28,500 U. S. troops stationed in South Korea along with its rival’s own forces annually, put its country at a risk of military invasion.
A few days after the Singapore summit, the U. S. and South Korea announced they would halt some of the major upcoming military drills in a bid to encourage North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program.
Then, at the end of last month, Kim Jong Un displayed the first sign of Pyongyang’s level of commitment, when his country returned the remains of 200 U. S. or allied service members lost in the Korean War even.
According to U. S. military data, more than 36,500 U. S. troops died in the Korean War and about 7,700 U. S. military personnel, who fought in the war remain unaccounted for.
The remains of 5,300 other missing servicemen are thought to be scattered around the North Korean territory.
According to experts, since the war ended, recovery and repatriation efforts have been ongoing, on and off, for decades.
So far since 1953, the remains of 334 servicemen have been identified from the bones and personal effects handed over by Pyongyang.
Denuclearization taking shape?
Meanwhile, the lack of efforts by Pyongyang towards its main vow to denuclearze, has reportedly left Trump fuming even though he denied the reports on being dissatisfied with the progress.
This week, despite a recent heated exchange between U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and top North Korean officials, North Korea was reportedly to have made efforts to dismantle facilities at its main satellite launch site.
The North Korea-focused 38 North website said that commercial satellite images taken between July 20 and 22 had indicated that the North began dismantling key facilities at its main satellite launch site.
