Friday, 22/06/2018 07:54 (GMT+7)
US said on June 20th that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) could start the process of handing over the remains of troops missing from the Korean War.
Photo for illustration (Source: Sputnik/VNA)
Around 200 sets of remains could be returned to the US as soon as this week.
“UN Command Korea is planning for the repatriation of the remains of US service members previously recovered by the DPRK,” said Mr. Col. Chad Carroll, a spokesman for US forces in Korea.
US President Donald Trump met with DPRK’s leader Kim Jong-un at a historic summit on June 12th in Singapore.
In a news conference following the summit, Mr. Trump said the DPRK had agreed to return the remains of US soldiers.
If returned, the remains would be sent to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) lab. There the painstaking process of matching bone fragments, personal items or other potential DNA sources, such as teeth, with DNA samples it has collected from surviving family members would begin, in order to identify the remains and begin the process of reuniting them with their families.
According to the DPAA, 7,700 American service members remain unaccounted for from the Korean War, and about 5,300 are believed to be located within the DPRK./.
Compiled by BTA