A U.S. airman stands guard next to caskets containing remains of U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War and collected in North Korea before a repatriation ceremony at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. Vice President Mike Pence is set to receive the remains in Hawaii. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 10:20 a.m. PT – Weds. Aug. 1, 2018
Vice Pres. Mike Pence is in Hawaii to receive the remains of fallen U.S. service members who fought in the Korean War.
Pence arrived with his wife in Honolulu Wednesday along with several family members of Korean War veterans. North Korea handed over 55 boxes of remains to the U.S. last week as a part of an agreement between President Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un.
Landed in Honolulu late last night. Humbled & honored to be here to take part in the Honorable Carry Ceremony for fallen U.S. heroes of the Korean War.
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) August 1, 2018
Initial tests show the human remains handed over by the north are likely that of American service members.
“The remains are consistent with remains that we have recovered in North Korea through our own recovery efforts in the past,” said John Byrd, and anthropologist with the Defense P.O.W. and M.I.A. Accounting Agency. “There’s no reason at this point to doubt that they do relate to Korean War losses.”
However, the cases only include one dog tag, so the identifying process could be difficult and may take yeas to complete.
The boxes will be held at Hawaii’s Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, where officials will conduct further DNA testing to identify the remains.
U.N. honor guards carry the remains of U.S. servicemen killed in the Korean War and collected in North Korea, onto an aircraft at the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. North Korea handed over 55 boxes of the remains last week as part of agreements reached during a historic June summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump. (Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)
