Seoul: North Korea has agreed to return the mortal remains of 55 American soldiers who were killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, according to a US military newspaper report.
An official from the ‘Stars & Stripes’ newspaper said that Pyongyang has given the green signal to Washington D.C. to fly out the mortal remains of the American soldiers from the country by next week, which would be the first repatriation since 2007, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The details emerged after officials from both countries held working-level talks at Panmunjom in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), which serves as the de facto border between North Korea and South Korea.
Major General Michael Minihan, chief of staff for the US-led UN Command, led the US side and the North Korea’s delegation reportedly included a two-star general.
The official was quoted by Stars & Stripes saying that a delegation from the US was expected to receive the remains in North Korea and fly them out on July 27, either to Osan Air Base in South Korea or to Hawaii respectively, according to the Yonhap News Agency report.
July 27 will mark the 65th anniversary of the signing of the armistice treaty which ended the Korean War. The two Koreas technically remain at war as neither side signed a peace treaty.
Recovering and repatriating the remains of US troops killed during the war was one of the agreements that US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached during their historic summit in Singapore in June.
The meeting was the first between the militaries of both the US and North Korea after a gap of nine years.
Earlier in April, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who met at the inter-Korean summit at Panmunjom, agreed to sign a peace treaty to formally end the war and the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. (ANI)