Trump, Kim summit may boost recovery of US war remains
Thousands of American troops unaccounted for from conflict
TOKYO – More than six decades after the troops died for their country, the repatriation of the remains of thousands of U.S. military personnel missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War may finally get a boost now that President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold the first-ever summit between their countries.
Nearly 7,800 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. About 5,300 were lost in North Korea.
Efforts to recover and return the remains have been stalled for more than a decade because of the North’s development of nuclear weapons and U.S. claims that the safety of recovery teams it sent during the administration of President George W. Bush was not sufficiently guaranteed.
There are indications, however, that Trump may raise the issue directly with Kim when they meet. There is also a chance Kim might return some remains even before the summit. The location and date of the summit have yet to be announced, though officials have suggested the meeting should take place by May.
“Hopefully, the North Koreans will turn over some remains as a goodwill gesture before the summit,” said Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador and New Mexico governor who secured the return of six sets of remains from North Korea in 2007. “This would help enormously to defuse some tension.”
Frank Metersky, a Korean War veteran and a leading advocate of efforts to recover the remains with Korea Cold War Families of the Missing, one of three main support groups for families of service personnel missing in action, said he has been told by administration officials dealing with the matter that it is tentatively high on the summit agenda.
“The MIA issue, recovery of remains from the Korean War, is the third item on the list if they get to it,” he said by phone from New York. “If the meeting takes place and they get past the nucle- ar and missile issues, it’s the third item on the agenda.”
Trump’s decision to meet Kim has come under criticism amid skepticism about whether he will be able to negotiate a nuclear deal with the North.
An agreement from Kim to return remains or allow future search missions would allow Trump to claim a concrete success. Hopes are high that Kim might also be willing to release three Americans of Korean descent it is now holding in custody for what it calls “anti-state” activities.
According to the Pentagon’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, most of the missing Americans died in major battles or as prisoners of war.