U.S. hopes for remains in 2 weeks
19 July, 2018
The United States hopes North Korea will return the remains of about 50 American Korean War dead within two weeks, the first of thousands President Donald Trump says Pyongyang has promised to hand over, a senior U.S. defense official said on Tuesday.
However, the timing of the handover and the number of remains to be returned is still uncertain, in spite of two days of talks between U.S. and North Korean officials on Sunday and Monday, said the official, who did not want to be identified.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced after an unprecedented June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons that Kim had agreed to return the remains of “thousands and thousands” of Americans killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.
Trump subsequently said the remains of 200 American servicemen had already been sent back, but so far none have been handed over.
U.S. and North Korean officials met on the inter-Korean border on Sunday to discuss the issue and again on Monday.
The first meeting had initially been scheduled for July 12, but the North Koreans failed to show up, the senior U.S. official said, saying this was “a reminder that this process is off to a slow start and isn’t likely to get any faster or easier as we try to repatriate thousands more of our people.”
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