North Korea snubs US at planned meeting to discuss the returns of soldiers’ remains
The repatriation of the remains of US soldiers from North Korea has been a major issue between Washington and Pyongyang since the end of the Korean war
North Korean officials did not turn up to Thursday’s scheduled meeting with the US military about repatriating the remains of the war dead, according to a US official with knowledge of the situation.
The two sides had been expected to discuss at the Korean Peninsula’s demilitarised zone (DMZ) the return of US troop remains from the 1950-1953 war – an arrangement that the State Department had announced after Secretary Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang last Friday and Saturday.
State Department officials had said that the meeting would likely take place on July 12, though they added that the date could shift.
On Thursday, however, Department of Defence and United Nations Command officials were left waiting in the DMZ’s Joint Security Area. The expected North Korean officials never arrived, according to the official who requested anonymity as he was not permitted to talk publicly about the event.
“We were ready,” the official said. “It just didn’t happen. They didn’t show.”
It was not immediately clear why North Korean officials had not attended the meeting or whether they had ever confirmed their intention to. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Ahead of the summit in Singapore, North Korean officials sometimes did not turn up to meetings where their US counterparts were expecting them, causing tension between the two negotiating partners.
