North Korea could start the process of returning the remains of missing troops from the 1950-53 Korean War to the US within the next few days, media reports said Wednesday, a move which could be taken as an indication that the reclusive nation is serious about improving ties with the US.

The news comes nearly a week after US President Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recommitted to recovering and repatriating the remains of those declared missing in action, through a joint statement issued after their meeting in Singapore on June 12. Trump had said Friday that North Korean officials have started “to produce the remains of these great soldiers.” 

According to Reuters, citing unnamed sources, North Korea would hand over the remains to the United Nations Command in South Korea, which would then be transferred to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

Though the exact size and date of the transfer are unknown, reports claim “a sizable number” of remains are expected to be handed over. ABC News said it could amount to up to 200 sets of remains. But it could take months or even years before they are positively identified, the reports added.

The US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency estimates that there are 7,697 Americans unaccounted for from the Korean War. Among those, approximately 5,300 are thought to be located inside North Korea.

The transfer could be interpreted as a step toward normalizing US-North Korea relations and an olive branch from the North to the US, experts pointed out, as observed in the precedent of development of US-Vietnam ties.

After the US received remains of soldiers that went missing during the 1955-1975 Vietnam War, US President Bill Clinton announced in 1995 that the US would normalize relations with the Southeast Asian communist nation, ending 20 years of severed ties.

Both countries then proceeded to broaden diplomatic exchanges by upgrading their liaison offices opened in January 1995 to embassy status, with the US later opening a consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City, while Vietnam opened a consulate in San Francisco, California.

“Both Vietnam and North Korea were engaged in a war with the US,” said Hong Min, director of the North Korean studies division at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

“Making such a symbolic gesture of addressing the wounds of the past would be a meaningful and diplomatic step toward the future and the normalizing of diplomatic relations.”

Hong added that a resumption of US-North Korea joint recovery operations for the remains in North Korea could also pave a way for lifting of the US’ unilateral sanctions and eventually international sanctions layered on North Korea. Cooperation on North Korean soil would be a way to build trust.

Between 1996 and 2005, joint US-North Korea military search teams conducted 33 recovery operations and recovered 229 sets of American remains. Washington officially pulled out of the program, citing the safety of its searchers, though the North’s first nuclear test in 2006 is largely seen as the actual reason.

It’s been more than a decade since North Korea handed over the remains of US troops deemed missing from the Korean War. The last time was in 2007, when Bill Richardson, a former UN ambassador and New Mexico governor, secured the return of six.

Experts also see the return of the remains as combined efforts to prove that the North would follow through on agreements that Trump and Kim reached at the recent summit.

In the joint statement after their meeting in Singapore, both leaders reaffirmed the North’s commitment to “work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” while the US “committed to provide security guarantees” in return.

Though Trump has hailed the summit as a success, critics pointed out the agreement lacked necessary details that could prove the North’s solid commitment towards nuclear disarmament.

Meanwhile, Korea’s Ministry of National Defense and the US’ Pentagon announced Tuesday that they had suspended “all planning” for the Freedom Guardian exercise following Trump’s pledge to end the “expensive and provocative” war games.

(mkjung@heraldcorp.com)