North Korea returned remains believed to be those of 55 American soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War on Friday, the 65th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, in a move that is the first tangible result from the Singapore summit in June.

The US Air Force C-17 aircraft departed for North Korea’s port city of Wonsan at 5:55 a.m. and landed at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, around 11 a.m. carrying the remains, according to the United Nations Command.

Hundreds of US service members and a military honor guard lined up on the tarmac to receive the remains. As the aircraft stopped in front of the honor guard, 55 soldiers carried the wooden boxes, which were wrapped with the blue UN flags, out of the plane and loaded them into six vans parked some 20 meters away, according to a South Korean pool report.

US President Donald Trump welcomed the move in a tweet, saying “After so many years, this will be a great moment for so many families. Thank you to Kim Jong-un.” The White House said in a statement that it is encouraged by North Korea’s actions and the momentum for positive change.

South Korea, which is also engaging North Korea for denuclearization talks, hailed the move in a statement as “meaningful progress” that could contribute to building trust between the US and North Korea.

“We expect the stakeholders’ efforts to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula to accelerate,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Seoul will consult with Pyongyang to return the remains of South Korean soldiers killed during the war, it added.

A formal repatriation ceremony for the US war remains will be held at Osan Air Base at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Following the ceremony, the remains will be transferred to the Hawaii-based Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency for a series of forensic examinations to identify them, according to the UNC.

“It was a successful mission following extensive coordination,” UNC and United States Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks said in a statement. “Now, we will prepare to honor our fallen before they continue on their journey home. 

The return of the US war remains is the one of the agreements North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made at his summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore, where North Korea committed to “complete denuclearization” in return for a security guarantee by the US.

From 1996 to 2005, joint US-North Korea military search teams conducted 33 recovery operations that collected 229 sets of American remains. But efforts to recover the war dead had been stalled since 2007 amid tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. In 2007, Bill Richardson, a former UN ambassador and New Mexico governor, secured the return of six sets.

The repatriation of the war dead, coupled with the North’s recent dismantling of its Sohae missile engine testing site, is likely to help quell growing skepticism in Washington over a lack of immediate progress on denuclearization talks with North Korea, experts say.

“I think that North Korea’s return of the US war remains is a positive step amid growing skepticism over North Korea’s willingness to denuclearize and weakening of the momentum of dialogue,” said Park Won-gon, a professor at Handong Global University. “The good-will gesture will help Trump convince American officials and the public about his engagement with North Korea.”

North Korea and the US have yet to agree on how to carry out North Korea’s pledge to denuclearize and the US’ promise to guarantee the North Korean regime’s security, since their summit last month. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Pyongyang earlier this month for follow-up negotiations, but came back with little progress. After he left Pyongyang, North Korea accused the US of making “unilateral and gangster-like demands for denuclearization.”

But the return of the US war dead would not be sufficient for the Trump administration to agree to declare an end to the Korean War -- one of the demands by North Korea to restore trust with the US, he said. 

“After returning the US war dead, North Korea is expected to step up demands for discussions to bring a formal end to the Korean War," Park said. 

"But the repatriation of the war remains would not be enough to dispel skepticism toward North Korea in Washington, which would make it hard for the Trump administration to declare an end to the war.”

“The South Korean government’s role would be important to narrow the gap between the two countries.”

By Ock Hyun-ju and Joint Press Corps (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)