N. Korea returns U.S. war dead
55 boxes contain unidentified remains
HONOLULU — Decades after the end of the Korean War in 1953, the remains of dozens of presumed U.S. war dead were on their way Wednesday to Hawaii for analysis and identification.
The U.S. military believes the bones are those of U.S. servicemen and potentially servicemen from other United Nations member countries who fought alongside the U.S. on behalf of South Korea during the war.
U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence and the commander of U.S. forces in Asia, Adm. Phil Davidson, were expected to speak at a ceremony marking the arrival of the remains on U.S. soil and the beginning of a long process to identify the bones.
North Korea handed over the remains last week. A U.S. military plane made a rare trip into North Korea to retrieve the 55 cases.
About 7,700 U.S. soldiers are listed as missing from the 1950-53 Korean War and 5,300 of the remains are believed to still be in North Korea.
Hanwell Kaakimaka’s uncle, John Kaakimaka, is among those who never came home. “We’ve been hopeful that my uncle is among the remains.”
His uncle, who was from Honolulu, was a corporal. He went missing Dec. 2, 1950.
The Kaakimaka family provided DNA samples to the U.S. military’s Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency over a decade ago.
The agency identifies remains of servicemen. It uses bones, teeth and DNA to identify remains along with any items that may have been found like uniforms, dog tags and rings. But North Korea only provided one dog tag with the 55 boxes.
The bones’ return was part of an agreement reached during a June summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.