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Aircraft carrying remains of US Korean War dead arrives in S. Korea
SEOUL, July 27, 2018 (AFP) – A US military aircraft carrying the remains
of US Korean War dead collected in North Korea arrived in the South on
Friday, the 65th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting.
The return of the remains marks the partial fulfilment of an agreement
reached between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
at their historic summit in Singapore last month.
After leaving the North Korean port city of Wonsan, the C-17 cargo plane
landed at the Osan US Air Base in South Korea at around 0200 GMT, where live
TV images showed American soldiers lined up for a ceremony.
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.
“Today’s actions represent a significant first step to recommence the
repatriation of remains from North Korea and to resume field operations in
North Korea to search for the estimated 5,300 Americans who have not yet
returned home,” the White House said in a statement.
“We are encouraged by North Korea’s actions and the momentum for positive
change,” the statement said, adding that a formal repatriation ceremony would
be held at the Osan Air Base next week.
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.
The remains flown to Osan on Friday are expected to be sent to Hawaii for
forensic identification.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0900 hrs