US Korean soldiers remains ~ 55 boxes out of 100

Sadly, the 55 boxes of dust returned to the United States from North Korea are symbolic of lack of respect Kim Jung Un holds for Donald Trump. Thousands of American soldiers remain unaccounted for. It's tragic to realize that the remains of US soldiers, who fought and died in the Korean Conflict, are now the only semblance of progress that resulted from the failed Singapore June 12, 2018, meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jung Un.

Journalist Andrea Mitchell responded to the transfer of remains on Twitter:  "North Korea reality check: Kim Jong Un promised Trump 200 remains: he delivered 55. He promised to denuclearize: Pompeo acknowledged to Senate North Korea is still producing nuclear weapons fuel. Last time regime returned soldiers’ remains it took years to verify; some were animal bones".

In fact, identification of the Korean soldiers' remains will be a daunting process.  It's impossible to believe they are intact after God only knows where they've been for the past 65 plus years.

Yonhap News Agency reported Thursday that North Korea had accepted 100 wooden transit caskets that it planned to use to return the remains ~ but 55 boxes were returned. (MaineWriter ~ So, let me get this right. Although the US provided 100 wooden caskets, the North Koreans and Kim Jung Un returned 55 boxes with zero identification?)

The U.S. military command in South Korea moved the caskets into the demilitarized zone that splits the Korean Peninsula in late June.

Earlier Thursday, the expected recovery was greeted with cautious optimism by Rick Downes, executive director of a group of families whose loved ones never came home from the Korean War. They have watched discussions in recent weeks with a mixture of hope and cynicism, he said.

"These are poker chips, unfortunately," said Downes, who runs the Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs. "These guys, these missing men, are still serving. The war still goes on, and they are being negotiated and used as a bargaining tool."
Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who worked on repatriation issues and visited North Korea several times, said Thursday that he sees the potential recovery as a positive first step. But he warned that Pyongyang could stall in delivering other remains and attempt to use the issue as a way to make money.

"They'll give a certain amount of remains for free right away," Richardson predicted. "But then they'll say, 'The next ones, we need to find them, locate them, restore them.' And then they'll start charging, and they'll milk this."

Though the United States has a policy of refusing to pay for the repatriation of remains, in the past it has agreed to provide some funding for expenses incurred by the North Koreans.

The Pentagon estimates that nearly 7,700 U.S. troops are unaccounted for from the war; among them are 5,300 believed to have been killed north of the 38th parallel, which largely coincides with the boundary.

MaineWriter ~ There's no way those 55 boxes of dust will rise to the level of being a successful outcome, resulting from the failed Singapore June 12, meeting between two evil men. Rather, those boxes of dust are toxic and symbolic images of the cynical intentions of Kim Jung Un and the hypocritical praise Trump is wrongly showering on North Korea's vile leader.