In what has been largely viewed as a landmark decision, the remains of Korean War dead come home to the US, more than 60 years after the last soldier died.
On Wednesday, the alleged remains of more than 50 US servicemen that died in the war was handed over to the US, making good on arrangements agreed upon during the talks that occurred between US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
LA Times reports that the talks that happened in Singapore resulted in the 55 boxes of remains being turned over to the US military at the Osan Air Base in South Korea. Each of the boxes had a United Nations flag draped on it and were loaded into a US Air Force airplane. The remains will make a stop at Hawaii for testing and identification before finally being brought to the US.
Forensic testing done on the remains revealed them to be possibly American servicemen-those who died during the Korean War. However, given the condition of the remains, their complete identification will take years.
Time said that the ceremony was held at Osan, where a military honor guard was lined up and honored the remains as they were being loaded into the airplane. These remains could be the first of 5,300 remains still in North Korea.
The war, which is technically not yet over, took 36,000 American lives. About 7,700 US soldiers from the war are still classified as missing. 5,300 of these remains are still said to be in North Korean possession.
The repatriation of these remains, however, is a step towards North Korea coming back to the discussions. The discussion will be centered on ending the war formally. South Korea's Defense Ministry also confirmed the North's willingness to talk, which will be held at a border village. Included in these discussions are to ease tensions on both countries' sides of their border.
With these discussions, an end to the missing nature of this US Army personnel is finally at an end. It was hampered previously by the North's unwillingness to discuss terms. The US government, under president Donald Trump, said that they are thankful to the North Korean government for the repatriation.
