North Korea is expected to hand over the remains of a number of U.S. service members who were killed during the Korean War on Friday, the 65th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting, according to reports in South Korean media.
That exchange would mean that one part of the agreement reached between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore last month has been partially fulfilled — albeit more slowly than many had anticipated.
The first transfer will be made on Friday to mark the 65th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the war, Yonhap reported, citing diplomatic sources.
The remains will be airlifted from the North's Kalma Airport on the eastern coast to Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, beore being transferred to a forensic lab in Hawaii, it said.
A US military spokesman declined to comment on the report.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week the repatriations would begin shortly, but did not confirm media reports that the first transfers of some 50-55 sets of remains would take place on July 27.
North Korean and US military officials met last week at the border truce village of Panmunjom to discuss the repatriation.
Dozens of transfer cases to carry the American remains have been brought to the southern side of the border in recent weeks.
More than 35,000 Americans were killed on the Korean Peninsula during the war, out of which around 7,700 are still considered missing, including 5,300 in North Korea alone, according to the Pentagon.
Between 1990 and 2005, 229 sets of remains from the North were repatriated, but those operations were suspended when ties between the two countries deteriorated over Pyongyang's continuing effort to develop nuclear weapons.