The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. readies to receive soldiers’ remains from North Korea
More than six decades after the end of the Korean War, the U.S. military is preparing for the remains of some of its soldiers killed in the conflict to finally return home.
On Saturday, the U.S. military in South Korea said it had moved 100 wooden coffins and U.S. flags to the border with North Korea to prepare for the repatriation.
North Korea is expected to hand over the remains — believed to belong to some 200 to 250 U.S. servicemen — after President Donald Trump’s historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12.
During that meeting, Kim committed to returning the remains of U.S. troops recovered from major Korean War battle sites in his country and said he would make way for the “immediate repatriation of those already identified.”
Panmunjom, the “truce village” that straddles the SouthNorth Korean border, is where the remains are expected to be handed over, said Lt. Col. Jennifer Lovett, a U.S. military spokeswoman in South Korea. More coffins will be sent to the village in the coming days.
Metal caskets were also being readied at the U.S. air base in Osan, South Korea, to prepare for the cross-Pacific journey home. On Saturday, 158 metal coffins were sent to the air base, Lovett said.
“We are getting ready,” she said, adding that it remained unclear when North Korea would deliver the remains to Panmunjom.
The temporary wooden caskets were provided to offer dignified treatment to the servicemen’s remains, as the U.S. military did not know what condition they would arrive in. The preparations were the first indication that the repatriation could be imminent.
Trump raised hopes Thursday when he said, “They’ve already sent back, or in the process of sending back, the remains of our great heroes who died in North Korea during the war.”
The Pentagon’s effort to find and bring home the long-lost U.S. servicemen has been continually stymied by political tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
But North Korea has suspended all nuclear and missile tests this year and during the summit with Trump, Kim also promised to work toward “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” However, doubts persist that he will hand over his nuclear weapons anytime soon.
North Korea has bitterly protested the annual military exercises staged by South Korea and the U.S. military, which Pyongyang views as a rehearsal for invasion.
To encourage the North to denuclearize, the United States and South Korea agreed to suspend the largescale joint military exercises slated for August. On Saturday, they announced that two small-scale joint Marine drills scheduled between July and September would also be suspended.