One of the four points included in the statement signed by President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Tuesday’s summit in Singapore agrees to the recovery of the remains of American military personnel missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War, Fox News reported.
The statement also agrees to the immediate repatriation of those already identified. Almost 7,800 American troops remain unaccounted for from the 1950-53 war in the Korean Peninsula, with some 5,300 of the servicemen lost in North Korea.
The agreement, however, did not provide any details or a timeline, although it was a considered a start for veterans groups that had lobbied for the issue to be included on the summit agenda, according to Stars and Stripes.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars had sent a letter to Trump last week asking him to raise the issue.
The effort to locate the remains will be the continuation of past attempts. Between 1990 and 2005, joint U.S.-North Korean military search teams recovered 229 sets of American remains from North Korea
The United States was permitted to conduct 33 investigative and recovery operations in the country before former President George W. Bush’s administration called off the search, saying the safety of American participants was not guaranteed. North Korea was also becoming increasingly hostile and advancing its development of nuclear weapons.
Critics of the program also said the North was using the deal as a means to get dollars from the government in Washington, calling it "bones for bucks," ABC News reported.