U.S. prepares to receive remains from N. Korea

SEOUL, South 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, in the wake of President Donald Trump’s historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

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 South-North 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 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 base, Lovett said.

“We are getting ready,” she said, adding that it was 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 didn’t know what condition they would arrive in. The preparations were the first indication the repatriation could be imminent.

Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press North Korean soldiers in 1998 carry an aluminum casket containing remains of a U.S. serviceman.