US soldiers at the North Korean border bring 100 coffins and prepare to retrieve remains of American soldiers missing since the war after Kim Jong-un agrees to return the bodies

  • Kim Jong-un agreed to send home US war remains from the 1950-53 war after his historic June 12 meeting with President Trump 
  • US military moved 100 wooden coffins to the Korean border Saturday to retrieve the remains
  • Kim said after the meeting last month that it was time to 'leave the past behind' and promised that the world will see a 'major change.'

The US military has moved 100 wooden coffins to the Korean border to prepare for the return of the remains of American soldiers who have been missing since the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea agreed to send home US war remains during the June 12 summit between leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump.

Spokesman Colonel Chad Carroll said Saturday that the military sent 158 metal transfer cases to a US air base near South Korea's capital and will use them to send the remains home. 

In this May 14, 1999, file photo, U.N. honor guards carry a coffin containing the remains of the American soldiers after it was returned from North Korea

In this May 14, 1999, file photo, U.N. honor guards carry a coffin containing the remains of the American soldiers after it was returned from North Korea

North Korea agreed to send home US war remains during the June 12 summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump

North Korea agreed to send home US war remains during the June 12 summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump

Earlier Saturday, Carroll had denied a report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency that U.S. military vehicles carrying more than 200 caskets were planning to cross into North Korea. 

US  Forces Korea said in a statement later that day that 100 wooden 'temporary transit cases' were sent to the Joint Security Area at the border to 'receive and transport remains in a dignified manner when we get the call to do so.' 

From 1996 to 2005, joint U.S.-North Korea military search teams conducted 33 recovery operations that collected 229 sets of American remains.  

But efforts to recover and return other remains have stalled for more than a decade because of the North's nuclear weapons development and U.S. claims that the safety of recovery teams it sent during the administration of former President George W. Bush was not sufficiently guaranteed.  

The private meeting between Kim and Trump earlier this month gave way to an expanded bilateral with top officials from both countries.

The pair then signed a joint agreement committing to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula while providing security guarantees for the Korean regime

 Kim said it was time to 'leave the past behind' and embark on a new era of relations with America while promising that the world will see a 'major change.'

This November 6, 1998, file photo shows North Korean soldiers carry an aluminum casket containing remains of a U.S. serviceman killed during the Korean War

This November 6, 1998, file photo shows North Korean soldiers carry an aluminum casket containing remains of a U.S. serviceman killed during the Korean War

 

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