War-dead remains leave North Korea

About 50 U.S. troops finally fly home

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — Remains believed to be those of about 50 U.S. servicemen were flown out of North Korea today, the first visible result of President Donald Trump’s efforts to bring the U.S. war dead home 65 years after the end of the Korean War.

“We are encouraged by North Korea’s actions and the momentum for positive change,” the White House said in announcing the handover.

A U. S. Air Force C- 17 transport aircraft carrying the remains landed at Osan Air Base south of Seoul, the South Korean capital.

From Osan Air Base, the remains will be transferred to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Hawaii, where painstaking forensic work will be carried out to identify them. Remains that were returned in the past from North Korea were found to have been mixed with those of unidentified people and even with animal bones.

The Korean War was halted with an armistice signed 65 years ago today. But thousands of U.S. troops killed in major battles in North Korea have not been returned because the war was never formally concluded with a peace treaty and because North Korea and the United States lack diplomatic ties.

The remains flown out today were the first handed over since 2007 when Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador and New Mexico governor, went to North Korea on a private mission and secured six sets of remains. Between 1996 and 2005, a joint group of U.S. military experts and North Korean workers collected the remains of what were believed to have been 220 U.S. soldiers.