N. Korea said to have returned U.S. service members’ remains

SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. military has taken possession of remains that North Korea says belong to Americans who died in the Korean War, the White House said late Thursday night.

A U.S. military plane with the remains returned from North Korea and landed at Osan Air Base in South Korea early Friday, the Associated Press reported.

The approximately 55 remains were turned over by Pyongyang following an agreement reached by President Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un when they met in Singapore. They will be taken to Hawaii for identification. It is the first repatriation of remains from the North since 2007.

About 7,000 Americans are still listed as missing from the war.

The return of the remains came on the 65th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

Before the White House announcement, the potential recovery was greeted with cautious optimism by Rick Downes, executive director of a group of families whose loved ones never came home from the Korean War. They have watched discussions in recent weeks with a mixture of hope and cynicism, he said.

“These are poker chips, unfortunately,” said Downes, who runs the Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs. “These guys, these missing men, are still serving.”

A U.S. official told The Washington Post last week that North Korea had agreed to hand over about 55 sets of remains. Friday was suggested as a likely date for the repatriation due to its symbolic importance as the anniversary of the armistice.

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has worked on repatriation issues and visited North Korea several times, said earlier Thursday, before any return had been confirmed, that he sees the potential recovery as a first step.

But he warned that Pyongyang could stall in delivering other remains and attempt to use the issue as a way to make money.

Though the United States has a policy of refusing to pay for the repatriation of remains, in the past it has agreed to provide some funding for expenses incurred by the North Koreans.

The Pentagon estimates that nearly 7,700 U.S. troops are unaccounted for from the war; among them are 5,300 believed to have been killed north of the 38th parallel, which largely coincides with the boundary between North and South Korea.

Scientific testing will still be needed to confirm that they belong to American soldiers from the Korean War. In the past, North Korea has been accused of deliberately including nonAmerican bones — even animal bones — in a bid to fool U.S. authorities.