Pyongyang and Washington have been talking the past weeks. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, got a rude welcome, Vox reports. Pompeo was quoted to have had a 'positive' outcome from the meeting, but the North Korean government says otherwise.
It's hard to see who to believe. Pompeo, talking to reporters about the meeting, was absolutely beaming. Some key issues, according to him, were the point of discussion; what was important was that the US and North Korea made headways on these.
One of the main topics, according to Xinhua Net, was the repatriation of the remains of US soldiers who perished during the US-Korean war.
The talks concerning the repatriation of remains or living persons, otherwise, concerns about 5,300 Americans reported missing or killed during the Korean war, which occurred in the 1950s.
It was actually jumpstarted in mid-June, when the US and the DPRK last met in Singapore. During that meeting, a commitment was made on both parties to recover and send the remains of America POWs home, including those that were killed or missing in action during the war. Those that were already identified were to be sent home immediately.
The next level of meetings were said to happen on Monday, with the repatriation of remains one of the immediate concerns.
In a graph, CNN pointed out that there were places of special interest for the US government in regards to looking for remains of their soldiers. Some of these areas used to be POW camps and burial sites, the Chosin Reservoir, as well as the Unsan/Chonghon area.
It is interesting to note that there remains a lot of US personnel unaccounted for in North Korea. The total number amounts to 7,697, with 5,300 of them thought to be still in North Korea. Of the 7,697 personnel, only 340 remains have been repatriated.
While some of the talks remained on 'regrettable' terms, that North Korea is willing to assist the US in the repatriation of remains, among other concerns, remains a big progress for the US and North Korea.
