U.S. Sends Caskets to North Korea to Get Remains, Yonhap Says

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. is sending 215 caskets to North Korea to bring back the remains of American soldiers in a follow-up to a summit agreement between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, South Korea’s Yonhap News reported.

The U.S. Forces Korea would send 30 vehicles carrying the caskets to the border village of Panmunjom on Saturday afternoon, Yonhap said, citing an unidentified military official. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may bring back the remains when he visits North Korea, it added. USFK didn’t answer a call seeking confirmation.

North Korea and the U.S. fought in the 1950-53 Korean War and the remains of thousands of American soldiers are still believed to be buried on the northern side of the peninsula. U.S. recovery efforts in the country were halted in 2005 as tensions heightened between the two countries.

North Korean leader Kim agreed to resume the recovery efforts in his summit with President Trump earlier this month in Singapore. He also reaffirmed his pledge to give up nuclear arms, and the U.S. on Friday said it would halt some joint military drills on the peninsula over the next three months in support of diplomacy. Separately, North Korea and South Korea agreed this week to resume the reunions of war-torn families in mid-August.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Kim in Seoul at skim609@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, John McCluskey

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