BFF-05 US plane heads to N. Korea for war remains: report

394

ZCZC

BFF-05

NKOREA-SKOREA-US-WAR-DIPLOMACY

US plane heads to N. Korea for war remains: report

SEOUL, July 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A US aircraft flew to North Korea Friday
to collect the remains of American troops killed in the Korean War, the
South’s Yonhap news agency reported, the latest step in ongoing diplomacy
between Washington and Pyongyang.

Repatriation of American remains from the 1950-53 conflict was part of the
agreement signed between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un at their landmark summit in Singapore last month.

The US military transport plane took off from the Osan Air Base in South
Korea at 5:55 am local time (2055 GMT Thursday), Yonhap said, citing a Seoul
government source.

The aircraft’s destination was the Kalma airport in North Korea’s eastern
city of Wonsan, the agency added.

“It is believed to have landed there an hour later,” the official was
quoted as saying. “It will return (to South Korea) today.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that the repatriations
will begin soon, but did not confirm media reports about the first transfer
of some 50 sets of remains.

The South Korean official cited by Yonhap said it was unclear how many sets
of remains will be returned on Thursday.

US defence officials are expected to examine the remains in South Korea
before sending them on for forensic identification in Hawaii, the agency
added.

More than 35,000 Americans were killed on the Korean Peninsula during the
war, out of which around 7,700 are still considered missing, including 5,300
in North Korea alone, according to the Pentagon.

Between 1990 and 2005, 229 sets of remains from the North were repatriated,
but those operations were suspended when ties deteriorated over Pyongyang’s
nuclear weapons programme.

BSS/AFP/MRI/0832 hrs