Trump-Kim summit: American war dead may be sent home

The remains of US servicemen killed in Korea could be returned to America after the issue was raised at yesterday’s summit.

Singaporean police escort Kim’s motorcade as it leaves the St. Regis Hotel for the summit. Picture: AP

The remains of US servicemen killed in Korea could be returned to America after the issue was raised in “a last-minute request” at yesterday’s summit between ­Don­ald Trump and Kim Jong-un.

“I asked for it today and we got it,” Mr Trump said after the summit. “That was a very last-minute request. The remains will be coming back. They will start that process immediately.”

He said the issue of human rights in North Korea could be addressed in future, but that the issue of repatriating servicemen’s bodies — left in North Korea after the Korean War armisticein 1953 — was “discussed in great detail” after he was convinced by countless requests from bereaved families to seek it as part of the deal.

“I just had countless calls and letters. Anything you can do. They want the remains of their sons back and remains of their fathers and mothers. All of the people that got caught (in) that brutal war which took place to a large extent in North Korea,” Mr Trump said.

He said Kim agreed to the request “quickly and nicely”. “It was a nice thing. He understands it. So for the thousands and thousands — I guess over 6000 that we know of in terms of the remains — will be brought back.”

About 5300 American casualties are believed to be left in North Korea.

Earlier reports had suggested the issue may be high on the agenda. Korea Cold War Families of the Missing spokesman Frank Metersky said he had been told by officials the repatriation issue was “third on the list”.

“If the meeting takes place and they get past the nuclear and missile issues, it’s the third item on the agenda,” Mr Metersky told the Associated Press earlier this year.

Between 1996 and 2005 joint US-North Korea military search teams conducted more than 30 recovery missions and recovered 229 sets of American remains. The missions ended as the safety of American recovery teams could not be guaranteed and North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

The repatriation agreement was seen as a significant goodwill gesture as the two leaders vowed to “leave the past behind”.

The first summit between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader gave both men a moment of triumph after months of tension left many fearing a war.

Another big winner out of yesterday’s summit was the city-state that provided the photogenic backdrop and protest-free environment for the encounter.

At his post-summit press conference last night, Mr Trump heaped praise on Singapore, describing it as a place of “profound grace and beauty”. Its citizens had “made this visit so important and so pleasant despite all of the hard work and long hours”, he added.

Once considered the obvious conciliator for Asian conflicts, Singapore has languished in recent decades as Indonesia carved out a leadership role in ASEAN.

“This has put them back on the international map. This actually restores some of Singapore’s strategic political significance,” said Michael Vatiokotis, a regional analyst and author of Blood and Silk, Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia.

“Singapore was the intermediary between the West and ASEAN but then after the (democratic) transition in Indonesia in 1998 the West found they needed to get close to Indonesia. That was at the expense of Singapore, which lost its middle-man role.”

In fact, Indonesian President Joko Widodo had offered to host yesterday’s summit, though the US said it chose Singapore because it could guarantee both leaders’ security and provide neutrality.

Singapore employed all of its famed efficiency and security might to ensure the meeting went smoothly, notwithstanding the flip-flopping that preceded it when Mr Trump briefly called off the talks last month only to announce they were back on just days later.

So keen has it been to project a positive image before an estimated 2500-strong international media pack, the Straits Times newspaper published a three-point behavioural guide urging Singaporeans not to badmouth the government, be positive and “put patriotism first, inconvenience second”.

“Be gracious when asked for directions,” the government-friendly newspaper counselled. “When a foreigner sits at the table you had choped (reserved) with your tissue pack, let him take it, knowing he didn’t understand the local convention. Be polite and patient. Be hospitable and ­welcoming.”

Even Kim’s impromptu Monday-night walkabout turned into a publicity dream for the city state.

Pictures beamed across the world showed Kim walking around some of the city’s beauty spots, including the 56th-floor Marina Bay Sands Sky Park, as revellers — remarkably, given his paranoia — were allowed to continue drinking at the rooftop bar just one floor above.

Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, said Singapore’s diplomatic success was “well worth the $S20 million ($19.7m) price tag”, not just because it reaffirmed its status as a diplomatic hub but because it meant “both the US and North Korea should be grateful to Singapore”.

Some have even suggested Singapore’s success could lead to better ties with Beijing, and a role hosting any future meeting between China and Taiwan, another broiling regional dispute.

But others questioned whether Singapore for hosting a human rights abuser. Human Rights Watch Asia ­director Phil Robertson said: “This is a (Singapore) government that does not view human rights as a priority, so if they can become the de facto hub for troubled authoritarians ­negotiating their problems, that points to a greater power and influence for Singapore in the region and the world.

“You can see them doing this for other trouble spots. It could be China and Taiwan, Myanmar (Myanmar) and the Rohingya … name a problem in the region.

“They can guarantee a protest-free summit no matter how odious the leader.”

Additional reporting: Agencies