Honolulu: In an emotional and solemn ceremony the remains of dozens of presumed casualties from the Korean War were escorted by military honour guards onto US soil, 65 years after an armistice ended the conflict and weeks after President Donald Trump received a commitment from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for their return.
The US military believes the bones are those of US servicemen and potentially servicemen from other United Nations member countries who fought alongside the US on behalf of South Korea during the war. What is expected to be an exhaustive analysis and identification process will soon begin.
“Some have called the Korean War the ‘forgotten war’. But today, we prove these heroes were never forgotten,” Vice President Mike Pence said at a ceremony welcoming the remains, which were flown from South Korea earlier in the day.
“Today, our boys are coming home.” Each container was accompanied by one Marine, one sailor, one soldier and one airman. They set them gently on risers lined up inside the hangar as Pence stood watching with his hand over his heart. Adm Phil Davidson, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, saluted.
President Donald Trump, in a tweet Wednesday night, thanked Kim, “For keeping your word & starting the process of sending home the remains of our great and beloved missing fallen! I am not at all surprised that you took this kind action.”
Sixteen other United Nations member countries fought alongside US service members on behalf of South Korea. Some of them, including Australia, Belgium, France and the Philippines, have yet to recover some of their war dead from North Korea.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said some remains could turn out to be those of missing from other nations. He said last week that the return was a positive step but not a guarantee that the bones are American.
“Whosoever emerges from these aircraft today begins a new season of hope for the families of our missing fallen,” Pence said. “Hope that those who are lost will yet be found. Hope that after so many years of questions, they will have closure.”
North Korea handed over the remains last week. A US military plane made a rare trip into North Korea to retrieve the 55 cases.
The agency identifies remains of servicemen killed in past conflicts. It typically uses bones, teeth and DNA to identify remains along with any items that may have been found with remains like uniforms, dog tags and wedding rings. But North Korea only provided one dog tag with the 55 boxes it handed over last week.
Before the remains were put on military planes bound for Hawaii, hundreds of US and South Korean troops gathered at a hanger at the Osan base in South Korean for the repatriation ceremony.
The repatriation is a breakthrough in a long-stalled US effort to obtain war remains from North Korea.
There are 7,699 US service members listed as unaccounted for from the 1950-53 Korean War, of which about 5,300 are believed to have died on North Korean soil.
The remainder are those who died in South Korea but have not been recovered; those who died in air crashes at sea or on ships at sea, as well as a number who are believed to have been taken to China.
North Korea may want to use the remains’ return to keep diplomacy with the United States alive and win a reciprocal US concession. Experts say the North likely wants a declaration of the end of the Korean War as part of US security assurances.
An armistice that ended the Korean War has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war. North Korea has steadfastly argued its nuclear weapons are meant to neutralize alleged US plans to attack it.