An intractable impasse between the U.S. and North Korea has stymied once-promising efforts to recover the remains of 5,000 troops lost during the Korean War.
in Wonson, hours east of Pyongyang, Maj. Gen. Michael A. Minihan, the ranking U.S. military officer on board, directed his team to follow their North Korean counterparts inside a terminal. There, set out in neat rows, lay 55 boxes. A careful cataloguing was performed, and a formal transfer of control was made.
Minihan, now a four-star general, became emotional discussing how he and the repatriation team sent to Wonson handled the remains with care and reverence. They draped each of the cases in the flag of the United Nations Command, the international military force established to safeguard South Korea after the armistice, in the event some of the remains inside were not American.
on repatriating America’s war dead despite their litany of disagreements and long history of distrust.The recovery flight followed a pact between Kim and Trump, brokered the previous month at a high-stakes summit in Singapore, to establish “new” relations. Trump agreed to suspend joint military exercises with America’s longtime ally South Korea and left open the possibility of additional negotiations.
Daniel Russel, who handled North Korea issues during the Obama administration, said there is “no discernible opening ahead” for their recovery. In the past, he said, Pyongyang was receptive to having U.S. teams enter North Korea with approval, seeking cash in exchange for the remains. U.S.
“That’s kind of the end of the story — which is regrettable,” Abrams said. “In my opinion, repatriation was one of the casualties of the Hanoi summit.”The legacy of the last recovery, now known as the “K-55 remains,” is still revealing itself. In western Maryland, the family of Sgt. Roy C. DeLauter learned last year that his remains were among those recovered in the batch turned over five years ago. DeLauter was 21 when his unit was ambushed on the eastern side of the Chosin Reservoir in late 1950, after Chinese forces had intervened.
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