Hope rise for return of U.S. soldiers' remains after years of tensions
Arirang News
2018-07-11
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북미 유해송환 역사, 어떻게 이루어질까? 역대 미군 유해 송환은 어땠나?
Pyongyang and Washington's officials are meeting again on Thursday.
They will hold deeper discussions on returning the remains of U.S. soldiers who died in the Northern side of the peninsula during the Korean War.
And there's a chance some of the remains could even be handed over.
Lee Ji-won sheds light on the process, including past instances of such repatriations.
After U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's third visit to Pyongyang last week, Washington announced that a meeting will be held on Thursday at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom... to discuss the return of the remains of those killed during the Korean war.
And that meeting will involve officials from the Defense Department.
In late June, the U.S. sent one hundred temporary wooden caskets to Panmunjom to hold the estimated 200 sets of remains to be sent over,... while separately, 158 metal coffins have been moved to the Osan Air Base in South Korea's Gyeonggi-do Province, where the remains are to be transferred later on.
The caskets are expected be received in Panmunjom by the United Nations, just like in the past,... but it's unclear when and where the ceremony for the fallen heroes will take place.
According to Chuck Prichard, a spokesman for the U.S. Defense P-O-W M-I-A Accounting Agency, the remains are to be sent from South Korea to either Hawaii or Nebraska for identification.
The repatriation of American troops from the North began in 1990... with the remains of five soldiers.
There have been more than 30 joint searches for U.S. troops left behind, but the last time any were repatriated was in 2007... as ties between Pyongyang and Washington deteriorated due to North Korea's growing nuclear threat.
Things got tense at times,... for instance when the remains were found to include animal bones,... something North Korea was accused of doing deliberately.
As of now, an estimated 635 sets of remains have been sent back, with 334 of them identified.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg,... considering that America's Defense Department estimates the remains of some 53-hundred US servicemembers to be still in North Korea,... nearly half of them believed to be near the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas.
It's unclear whether the remains will be returned after the talks on Thursday, but Secretary Pompeo has said that could be the first step to improving ties,... so there's a great deal of anticipation that North Korea and the U.S. could be able to officially start implementing the Joint Statement signed in Singapore last month.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
Pyongyang and Washington's officials are meeting again on Thursday.
They will hold deeper discussions on returning the remains of U.S. soldiers who died in the Northern side of the peninsula during the Korean War.
And there's a chance some of the remains could even be handed over.
Lee Ji-won sheds light on the process, including past instances of such repatriations.
After U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's third visit to Pyongyang last week, Washington announced that a meeting will be held on Thursday at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom... to discuss the return of the remains of those killed during the Korean war.
And that meeting will involve officials from the Defense Department.
In late June, the U.S. sent one hundred temporary wooden caskets to Panmunjom to hold the estimated 200 sets of remains to be sent over,... while separately, 158 metal coffins have been moved to the Osan Air Base in South Korea's Gyeonggi-do Province, where the remains are to be transferred later on.
The caskets are expected be received in Panmunjom by the United Nations, just like in the past,... but it's unclear when and where the ceremony for the fallen heroes will take place.
According to Chuck Prichard, a spokesman for the U.S. Defense P-O-W M-I-A Accounting Agency, the remains are to be sent from South Korea to either Hawaii or Nebraska for identification.
The repatriation of American troops from the North began in 1990... with the remains of five soldiers.
There have been more than 30 joint searches for U.S. troops left behind, but the last time any were repatriated was in 2007... as ties between Pyongyang and Washington deteriorated due to North Korea's growing nuclear threat.
Things got tense at times,... for instance when the remains were found to include animal bones,... something North Korea was accused of doing deliberately.
As of now, an estimated 635 sets of remains have been sent back, with 334 of them identified.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg,... considering that America's Defense Department estimates the remains of some 53-hundred US servicemembers to be still in North Korea,... nearly half of them believed to be near the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas.
It's unclear whether the remains will be returned after the talks on Thursday, but Secretary Pompeo has said that could be the first step to improving ties,... so there's a great deal of anticipation that North Korea and the U.S. could be able to officially start implementing the Joint Statement signed in Singapore last month.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
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