Category: Korean War

The general level meeting between the US and North Korea over the return of Korean War remains did happen this weekend:

The United States and North Korea held general-level talks for the first time in more than nine years on Sunday to discuss the details of an agreement to repatriate the remains of American troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The meeting had originally been scheduled to take place Thursday, but the North called it off at the last minute, citing a lack of preparations. The North then suggested holding general-level talks with the U.S.-led U.N. Command (UNC) on Sunday, and the U.S. agreed.

Sunday’s talks began around 10 a.m. at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom. Maj. Gen. Michael Minihan, chief of staff for the UNC, led the U.S. side and the North’s delegation included a two-star general, sources said. Further details were not immediately available.

Earlier, three U.S. Forces Korea vehicles arrived at the Tongil Bridge near the border around 8:20 a.m. before putting U.N. flags on them and heading to Panmunjom. It was unclear whether the talks would conclude Sunday or be extended for another day.

Recovering and repatriating the remains of U.S. troops killed during the war was one of the agreements that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached during their historic summit in Singapore last month.

Sunday’s talks were expected to focus on such details as when and how the remains should be transferred. But the North could also demand something in exchange for the return or raise other issues related to the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think we all know North Korea is not going to hand over these remains out of the goodness of their heart.  When dealing with the Kim regime there is a price for everything.  These negotiations should determine what the price will be.

I don’t know if the timing of this ceremony is coincidence or not considering ongoing negotiations for the return of Korean War remains, but this ceremony does show the importance of the return of remains to the US military and surviving family members:

The United States and South Korea held a ceremony on Friday to return home the remains of two servicemen killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.

Seoul’s Defense Ministry said the remains of an unidentified allied soldier, presumably American, found in South Korea in 2016, will be sent to the United States. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has brought to Seoul the remains of a South Korean soldier found in North Korea in 2001 during a joint search between the United States and North Korea.

Friday’s ceremony in Seoul was attended by U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks, South Korea’s Defense Minister Song Young-moo and relatives of South Korean soldier Yun Gyeong-hyeok, who received his remains.  [Washington Post]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the drawn out return of remains from US servicemembers during the Korean War by North Korea:

The United States and North Korea have agreed to hold talks Sunday to discuss the repatriation of American troops’ remains from the 1950-53 Korean War, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said.

Heather Nauert said in a statement that the North Koreans proposed the date Thursday after a meeting expected the same day failed to materialize.

“Vice Chairman Kim Yong-chol agreed in his dialogue with Secretary Pompeo to have his team meet with an American team in Panmunjom on or around July 12th to move forward with the repatriation of American service members’ remains,” the spokeswoman said. “Mid day July 12th they contacted us and offered to meet on July 15th. We will be ready.” (……….)

About 200 sets of remains are expected to be returned through the inter-Korean border to the United Nations Command (UNC), which oversees the cease-fire that ended the Korean War.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said earlier that the UNC would receive the remains, not the South Korean or U.S. militaries alone, because all 21 nations that fought under the U.N. flag alongside South Korea and the U.S. lost troops in the conflict.

There was widespread speculation that Pompeo would return with the remains following his visit to Pyongyang, but that did not happen.  Once the remains cross the inter-Korean border, they will be moved to the U.S. air base in Osan, south of Seoul, and then to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii for forensic identification.

The level of the meeting Sunday was not immediately known.

North Korea has reportedly proposed holding general-level military talks with the UNC over the repatriation of remains, sources here said Thursday, after it failed to show up at the meeting earlier that day.

With the meeting not taking place, the UNC reportedly made a phone call and North Koreans responded by saying that they needed to upgrade the “level” of the talks.

“North Korea apparently wants a U.S. general to appear at the table to quickly finalize the repatriation issue,” the source said. “It is likely that military generals from the U.S. and North Korea will take part in the meeting.”

The UNC told the U.S. Defense Ministry about North Korea’s proposal and is waiting for Washington’s answer, the source added.
“We have to see the U.S. Defense Ministry’s response, but the UNC reportedly gave a positive signal to North Korea, so there is a good chance of the talks taking place on Sunday,” the source said.

If realized, they will be the first general-level military talks between North Korea and the UNC since March 2009.  [Jong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

North Korea didn’t show up for a meeting with the U.S. on American war dead, South Korean media report https://t.co/kPCYMNHeWn pic.twitter.com/JeuPo59JEB

— Bloomberg (@business) July 12, 2018

It has now been 68 years since the start of the Korean War:

A solemn ceremony took place in Washington Monday to mark the 68th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, an annual event that carried special meaning as the remains of some of the fallen heroes are set to return home.

The ceremony drew some 200 people to the Korean War Veterans Memorial as the United States and North Korea are in talks to formally end the 1950-53 conflict that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. [Yonhap]

Here is a cool quote from the article:

Cunningham, 88, said he served as a radar repairman with the Air Force during the war. He now drives an Amanti built by South Korea’s Kia.

“It is one of the finer cars that I have driven in the course of my lifetime, but when I left Korea in February of 1952 the last thing in my mind was that I would ever be driving a vehicle manufactured in this country because what I saw there was ashes and rubble,” he told Yonhap. “It’s very gratifying to us to see what’s been made of the economy — the 10th strongest economy in the world — and that’s very commendable.”

You can read more at the link.

There must be a political calculus behind this designation by the ROK government considering it has happened decades after the fact:

Germany has been belatedly classified among the participating nations in the Korean War, as South Korea has added the European country to the list of countries that provided medical assistance during the 1950-53 war, government officials said Friday.

The Ministry of National Defense has designated Germany as the sixth provider of medical support to the war-stricken South Korea 64 years ago, saying that Germans set up a hospital in Busan in May 1954 and engaged in medical assistance activities.

After the outbreak of the war on the Korean Peninsula, 21 countries contributed to the United Nations force that came to the aid of South Korea against North Korea, which was backed by China and the then Soviet Union.

Sixteen countries sent combat troops to South Korea, while four countries — Norway, Denmark, Sweden and India — sent medical units and Italy provided a hospital to the South.

In May 1953, two months before the ceasefire, Germany notified the U.N. headquarters of its intent to set up a field hospital in South Korea to support U.N. soldiers participating in the Korean War and sent a medical unit of around 80 staff the following year.

But the European country was not included among the Korean War providers of medical aid because its medical support activities began after the armistice treaty was signed on July 27, 1953.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link, but President Moon decided to pursue this designation after a trip to Germany last year where he met with former German medical team members.

What is most notable about this is that the Kim regime apparently did not demand bags of cash to make this happen.  It appears to be simply a good will gesture in response to the cancelling of the UFG exercise:

The U.S. military plans to send 215 empty caskets to North Korea via the inter-Korean border on Saturday to get back the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War, a South Korean military official said.About 30 U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) vehicles carrying the caskets were scheduled to depart from the Camp Humphreys base in Pyeongtaek for the border village of Panmunjom on Saturday afternoon, the official said on condition of anonymity.

“North Korea will repatriate the remains in the caskets,” the official said.

Recovering and repatriating the remains of U.S. troops killed during the 1950-53 war was one of the agreements that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached during their historic summit in Singapore earlier this month.   [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but it is right now undetermined how the remains will be repatriated, but it is expected to happen in the next few days.

What I did not see in the article was if any money was handed over to North Korea for the return of the remains.  My assumption would be probably not since the sanctions are still in place.  It will be interesting to see how many remains the Kim regime hands over because Korean War remains are a cottage industry for the North Koreans to make money off of:

Marines of the First Marine Division pay their respects to fallen buddies during memorial services at the division’s cemetery at Hamhung, Korea, following the break-out from Chosin Reservoir, December 13, 1950. Cpl. Uthe. (Marine Corps)

The U.N. Command in South Korea is planning for the North Koreans to turn over the remains of U.S. troops who died in the 1950-53 war, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

It would be the first such repatriation in more than a decade.

The announcement follows an agreement by President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their summit last week to recover the remains of thousands of war dead, “including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.”

The U.S.-led command didn’t give a number or timing for the ceremony. The agency that oversees POW/MIA issues has said North Korean officials have indicated that they have recovered as many as 200 sets of remains over the years.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but the North Koreans know exactly where the bulk of the remains are because the US military buried a large number of casualties in marked cemeteries before evacuating North Korea after the Chinese intervened in the war.

The JSA may be preparing for the ceremony, but President Trump has said 200 remains have already been returned:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that North Korea has sent back the remains of 200 American soldiers who were killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.

The repatriation is part of an agreement Trump signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at their historic summit in Singapore last week.

“Our great fallen heroes, the remains, in fact today already 200 have been sent back,” Trump said at a rally in Duluth, Minnesota, noting that he had “great chemistry” and “got along really well” with Kim.  [Korea Times]

I could find no confirmation that this has actually happened yet; you would think this would be major news which leads me to believe it hasn’t happened.  However, if Kim does hand over 200 remains that is a pretty significant amount.

Trump apparently believes (wrongly) he’s done something with the Korean War MIA issue that none of his predecessors has done before, in addition to treating it like a “mission accomplished” for simply having talked about it. https://t.co/RH2YZ70lOJ

— kushibo (@kushibo) June 17, 2018

A MUST READ FOR ANYONE WATCHING #NorthKorea events: What It Would Mean to End the Korean War https://t.co/n6EqznQzbo

— Harry Kazianis (@GrecianFormula) May 11, 2018