President Trump said on Friday that North Korea has already begun to return the remains of thousands of U.S. troops that are still missing in the country after nearly six decades.
The repatriation of those missing in action from the Korean War following an armistice in 1953 was part of an initial agreement struck by Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un during their meeting in Singapore this week.
“I said, ‘The remains, I would like to get them.’ He said, ‘Yes, we will do that.’ They are already starting to produce remains of these great, young soldiers who were left in North Korea,” Trump said during an impromptu interview on Fox News outside the White House. “We’re getting the remains. Nobody thought that was possible.”
Trump said the North will produce the remains of about 7,500 missing troops. The group Veterans of Foreign Wars estimates that 5,300 remain unaccounted for in North Korea, and the group has been lobbying the president to make the repatriation a priority in negotiations.
The U.S. and North Korea worked together on the return of 229 remains between 1990 and 2005 before relations deteriorated, the VFW said.
“He is giving us back our great heroes who died as you know. We’re getting remains back. I had some people, so many parents, so many fathers and daughters and sons asking me, please, please,” Trump said.
The Korean War armistice was signed 65 years ago, meaning parents of the troops who could have been killed or captured by the North have most likely passed away. But children and extended families of the missing are still urging the return of loved ones.
“For the families of those who never returned, the passage of time does not heal their wounds. For them, the days become weeks, and the weeks become months, then years and now, sadly, decades,” Keith Harman, VFW commander in chief, wrote to Trump in a letter before the summit.
The VFW did not immediately respond to a query about whether remains have been returned since the summit.
