US soldiers killed in Korean War going home

– North Korea transferred 55 small, flag-draped cases carrying the suspected remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean War yesterday, officials said, a first step in implementing an agreement reached in a landmark summit in June.

The repatriation of the remains of US soldiers missing in the 195053 conflict is seen as a modest diplomatic coup for US President Donald Trump because it was one of the agreements reached during his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.

“After so many years, this will be a great moment for so many families. Thank you to Kim Jongun,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

A White House statement about two hours earlier said: “We are encouraged by North Korea’s actions and the momentum for positive change.”

A US military transport plane flew to an airfield in North Korea’s northeastern city of Wonsan to bring the remains to Osan air base in South Korea, the White House statement said.

Soldiers in dress uniforms with white gloves were seen slowly carrying 55 small cases covered with the blue-and-white United Nations insignia, placing them one by one into silver vans waiting on the tarmac in Osan.

Straight-backed officers looked on next to the flags of the United States, South Korea and the United Nations.

A formal repatriation ceremony would be held at Osan on Wednesday, the White House said.

The remains would then be flown to Hawaii for further processing under the US Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the UN Command said in a statement.

The transfer of the remains coincided with the 65th anniversary of the 1953 armistice that ended fighting between North Korean and Chinese forces on one side and South Korean and US-led forces under the UN Command on the other. The two Koreas are technically still at war because a peace treaty was never signed.

Kim paid tribute to the North’s Korean War “martyrs” and to Chinese soldiers killed in the conflict, while attending a gathering of war veterans to mark the anniversary, state media KCNA said.

More than 7 700 US troops who fought in the Korean War remain unaccounted for, with about 5 300 of those lost in what is now North Korea.

The pledge to transfer war remains was seen as a goodwill gesture by Kim at the June summit and while it has taken longer than some US officials had hoped, the handover will rekindle hopes for progress in nuclear talks.

Kim committed in a broad summit statement to work towards denuclearisation, but Pyongyang has offered no details about how it might go about this. –