US Korean War dead heading home at last
POOL/AFP / Jung Yeon-jeCases of remains of American soldiers from the Korean War, each draped with a white and blue UN flag, were lined up in rows
Sixty-five years after the Korean War ended, the remains of dozens of American soldiers killed during the brutal conflict are finally coming home.
Wednesday's repatriation marks an important step after US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a summit, during which Kim agreed to send home the war dead.
Trump, who has faced criticism over the pace of progress since the June meeting, praised Kim for "keeping his word," and Vice President Mike Pence is set to meet families when the remains arrive back in the US at a ceremony in Hawaii.
Caskets carrying the 55 sets of remains were draped in the blue-and-white flag of the United Nations. Many nations fought in the Korean War, but most of the cases are thought to contain US troops.
More than 35,000 Americans were killed on the Korean peninsula during the 1950-1953 war, with 7,700 of these US troops still listed as missing in action -- most of them in North Korea.
It could take scientists and historians years to make final identifications.
John Byrd, director of scientific analysis at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), which has a large laboratory in Pearl Harbor, said preliminary findings suggest the remains are likely American.
They "are consistent with remains we have recovered in North Korea... in the past," Byrd told reporters at Osan US Air Base in South Korea.
The cases had been kept there since Friday, awaiting their repatriation to Hawaii for further forensic analysis.
"There's no reason at this point to doubt that they do relate to Korean War losses," Byrd added.
- 'Solemn reminder' -
Around 500 officials from the United Nations Command (UNC), the United States and South Korea attended a formal repatriation ceremony at Osan earlier Wednesday.
POOL/AFP / Jung Yeon-jeUS soldiers salute during the repatriation ceremony at Osan Air Base in South Korea
"This is a solemn reminder that our work is not complete until all have been accounted for, no matter how long it takes to do so," said General Vincent Brooks, commander of the UNC and United States Forces Korea.
After the ceremony, uniformed soldiers carefully loaded each case into two C-17 cargo planes, which later took off for Hawaii.
Byrd told reporters that "there was a single dog tag (US soldier's identity tag) provided with the remains."
"The family of that individual has been notified," he said, though he cautioned that the tag is not necessarily associated with the remains in the box.
The returned material also included military hardware and uniforms, including helmets, water bottles and boots.
- DNA, bones, dental records -
Former DPAA official Jeong Yang-seung, who previously worked on identifying US remains from the North, said it was unusual to locate dog tags during the search and recovery process.
"It's once in a blue moon that dog tags are recovered," Jeong, now professor of forensic anthropology at the Middle Tennessee State University, told AFP.
"I don't think North Korea is refusing to give dog tags when it has more but it probably doesn't have dog tags lying around," he said.
POOL/AFP / Jung Yeon-jeJohn Byrd, right, director of scientific analysis at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), said preliminary findings suggested that "they are likely to be American remains"
"So when... only one dog tag was provided, it's probably not to tease the US but rather that it was sent because it could offer clues to the remains."
DNA analysis, skeletal studies of bones, dental records and details of where the remains were found play a key role in such investigations.
"If it's identified quickly, it would be around five to six months, but if not, it could take decades," he said.
Between 1990 and 2005, North Korea allowed 229 sets of remains to be repatriated, but those operations were suspended when ties worsened over Pyongyang's banned nuclear weapons program.
Following the June summit, Trump had declared that Pyongyang was "no longer a Nuclear Threat," but Kim did not publicly promise to end work at the country's nuclear and missile facilities.
Instead, he spoke of committing to "work toward" eventual denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. He did not make any commitment to unilaterally disarm.
Still, experts see North Korea's return of the remains as an important gesture.
"It's a sign that they want to improve relations with us... and certainly for the families it's significant," Joel Wit, founder of the respected 38 North organization that monitors North Korea, told AFP.
Additionally, new satellite imagery from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station on North Korea's west coast suggests workers are dismantling an engine test stand, in line with a promise made to Trump.
Abraham Denmark, director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, cautioned not to read too much into the repatriation.
"It is not a signal about Pyongyang's willingness to denuclearize or even reform its ways, and policymakers should not be fooled or distracted from the primary source of tension -– North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles," he said.
Trump tells attorney general to end Russia probe
AFP/File / SAUL LOEB, NICHOLAS KAMMUS President Donald Trump (L) calls on Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R) to stop the probe into Russia's election interference
Donald Trump on Wednesday told his attorney general to end the high-profile investigation into Russian election meddling that has ensnared key members of his presidential campaign and cast a long shadow over his White House.
In a series of tweets that quickly sparked accusations that Trump was publicly trying to pervert justice, the president decried the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller as "a disgrace."
"This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further," Trump said.
Aides rushed to limit the damage, insisting he was not issuing an order as Session's boss.
"It's not an order, it's the president's opinion," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters, adding that Trump wants the probe to "come to an end."
The president -- along with allies in conservative media -- has launched a long PR campaign against the Mueller probe, which he claims is biased and pursuing erroneous claims of collusion between his campaign team and Moscow.
"Russian Collusion with the Trump Campaign, one of the most successful in history, is a TOTAL HOAX," the president said Wednesday.
Mueller -- a respected former FBI director -- is investigating whether the Trump campaign aided or abetted an attempt by Russia to sway the 2016 presidential election, or tried to cover up the conspiracy.
He has so far lodged dozens of indictments, including those of suspected Russian hackers, and secured guilty pleas from at least three Trump aides charged with conspiracy and lying to investigators.
This was Trump's most direct demand yet that Sessions, who infuriated the president by recusing himself from the investigation, intervene to end the probe.
"The President of the United States just called on his Attorney General to put an end to an investigation in which the President, his family and campaign may be implicated," said Democratic congressman Adam Schiff.
"This is an attempt to obstruct justice hiding in plain sight. America must never accept it."
Even Trump's allies questioned the demand.
"I've said all along I see no evidence of collusion. But if anyone helped Russia to hack/steal they deserve justice," said Republican operative Ari Fleischer.
"Let Mueller finish his job. Neither POTUS nor Sessions should interfere. After all, nothing will help Trump more than Mueller concluding there is no crime."
Amid the criticism from both sides of the political aisle, Trump's personal attorneys also sought to walk back the comment, insisting the president was not ordering Sessions to do anything.
"The president has issued no order or direction to the Department of Justice on this," lawyer Jay Sekulow told The Washington Post.
Rudy Giuliani added: "He very carefully used the word 'should.'"
- In the courtroom -
Trump's latest Twitter tirade came on the second day of the trial of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort on bank and tax fraud charges, which stemmed from the probe but were not directly related to his time on the campaign.
AFP/File / Brendan SMIALOWSKIManafort is the first defendant to go to court to fight charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election
Trump tweeted on Wednesday that Manafort "worked for me for a very short period of time" but sought to defend his former aide's bona fides.
"Paul Manafort worked for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other highly prominent and respected political leaders," he said.
Manafort served as Trump's campaign chief from May to August 2016 and the president asked Wednesday: "why didn't government tell me that he was under investigation."
"These old charges have nothing to do with Collusion - a Hoax!" he said.
Manafort's trial opened Tuesday with prosecutors accusing him of hiding from US tax authorities millions of dollars from past lobbying work for the pro-Russia president of Ukraine, and failing to report his foreign bank accounts.
In a further tweet, Trump suggested Manafort has been harshly mistreated.
"Looking back on history, who was treated worse, Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer and 'Public Enemy Number One,' or Paul Manafort," he wrote.
Manafort is scheduled to go on trial in September on separate charges brought by Mueller of conspiracy, money laundering and failing to register as an agent of a foreign government.
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