Behind the Scenes of Repatriating American Soldiers’ Remains from North Korea

On August 1, the remains of what are believed to be 55 American servicemen lost during the Korean War finally returned home, arriving in Hawaii to begin the long process of identification. These are the first remains returned from North Korea since the June 12 Singapore Summit, when Kim Jong-un pledged to begin sending back bodies recovered in North Korea.

 

This week's guest personally participated in previous efforts to recover and return American remains from North Korea during the 1990s and 2000s. Ashton Ormes, a retired U.S. Army colonel, an Army Northeast Asia Foreign Area Officer, and a former civil servant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, sat down with Korean Kontext host Jenna Gibson to discuss those experiences, what it was like traveling within North Korea to search for remains, and what is different about this round of repatriations.

 

Col. Ormes also wrote a blog for KEI titled "Five Misconceptions About Recovering the Remains of America’s Korean War Servicemen Missing in North Korea." You can find it on the KEI blog by clicking here.