Trump expresses gratitude to Kim for repatriation for US POW/MIA

US President Donald Trump revealed the letter he received from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Aug. 1, adding “I look forward to seeing you soon!” in regards to his next potential meeting with Kim. (US President Trump’s Twitter account)

US President also alludes to possibility of another North Korea-US summit

US President Donald Trump expressed his gratitude to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for keeping his promise to return the remains of American soldiers and said he looks forwarding to seeing Kim again soon. Interest is focusing on whether the return of the soldiers’ remains will break through the deadlock in the nuclear talks between North Korea and the US.

“Thank you to Chairman Kim Jong Un for keeping your word & starting the process of sending home the remains of our great and beloved missing fallen! I am not at all surprised that you took this kind action. Also, thank you for your nice letter - l look forward to seeing you soon!” Trump posted on Twitter early in the morning on Aug. 2.

According to a Reuters report, it is unclear what letter Trump was talking about or when he would meet with Kim. On July 12, Trump released on Twitter a personal letter he had received from Kim on July 6. In that letter, Kim expressed his anticipation about his next meeting with Trump.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (left) and US President Donald Trump speak during the North Korea-US Summit in Singapore on June 12. (Yonhap News)

North Korea and the US’s current denuclearization talks are stalled because the US insists that North Korea must take tangible steps toward denuclearization while the North says that the Korean War needs to be officially declared as ended. In an attempt to reach a breakthrough, South Korean National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon and other officials visited the US at the end of July and asked American officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to exempt inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation programs from sanctions against North Korea, but the South Korean officials apparently did not get the response they were hoping for.

Amid these circumstances, it will be interesting to see how this impasse may be affected by Trump’s response to the repatriation of the remains and his mention of the possibility of holding another North Korea-US summit.

On Wednesday, 55 cases of the remains of American soldiers handed over by North Korea arrived at Hickam Air Force Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The ceremony for the remains was attended by US Vice President Mike Pence.

“My dad, Lieutenant Ed Pence, fought in combat in the Korean War. He came back with a medal on his chest. But my dad — gone now 30 years — always told us that the real heroes of the Korean War were the ones that didn’t get to come home,” Pence said during the ceremony.

“As [President Trump] secured a commitment for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula [during the June 12 summit in Singapore], our President also secured a promise from Chairman Kim to return the remains of all fallen US service members lost in North Korea,” Pence went on to say.

The remains have been sent to a laboratory under the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, part of the Department of Defense, where analysts will run genetic and dental tests in an attempt to identify the soldiers.

Returning the remains of American soldiers who died during the Korean War was one of the four agreements reached by Trump and Kim during their summit in Singapore on June 12. During the press conference shortly after the summit, Trump mentioned the need for a second summit and said his next meeting with Kim might be in Washington.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent, and Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter

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