North Korea has returned remains believed to be of US troops killed during the Korean War, the latest move in the cautious diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.
Troops formed an honour guard as the plane carrying the remains touched down at a US base in South Korea. Relatives have waited years to retrieve the remains of their loved ones. The repatriation was agreed at the June summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
The summit in Singapore, where the leaders agreed to work towards the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”, has been criticised for a lack of details on when or how Pyongyang would renounce nuclear weapons. But the return of US remains was one of four points actually listed in that June declaration and comes on the 65th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.
It is believed that 55 soldiers have been returned this time but their remains will need to be forensically tested to ensure they are indeed slain US troops – it’s possible that the identification process could take years.
Photo Credit: Getty
