North Korea has transferred the remains of an unspecified number of US soldiers killed in the Korean War, in the latest step in ongoing diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.
The repatriation of the remains of US soldiers missing in the 1950-53 conflict is seen as a modest diplomatic coup for US President Donald Trump.
It was one of the agreements reached during his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on 12 June.
The White House said in a statement "Today, (Kim) is fulfilling part of the commitment he made to the President to return our fallen American service members. We are encouraged by North Korea’s actions and the momentum for positive change."
WH: Statement from the Press Secretary on the Repatriation of Remains from North Korea pic.twitter.com/ijM08iso7D
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) July 27, 2018
The statement said a US military transport plane flew to an airfield in North Korea’s northeastern city of Wonsan to bring the remains to Osan air base in South Korea, adding that a formal repatriation ceremony will be held on Wednesday.
The transfer of the remains coincided with the 65th anniversary of the 1953 armistice agreement that ended fighting, although the two Koreas are technically still at war because a peace treaty was never signed.
The pledge to transfer war remains was seen as a goodwill gesture by Mr Kim at the June summit and, while it has taken longer than some US officials had hoped, the handover will rekindle hopes for progress in nuclear talks.
Mr Kim committed in a broad summit statement to work toward denuclearisation but Pyongyang has offered no details about how it might go about this.
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said the return of the remains could boost the momentum for the nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
More than 7,700 US troops who fought in the Korean War remain unaccounted for, with about 5,300 of those lost in what is now North Korea.
