Seoul, South Korea — The U.S. military said Saturday that it was moving “assets” to a U.S. air base near South Korea’s capital and to the inter-Korean border to prepare for North Korea’s returning of the remains of U.S. soldiers who have been missing since the 1950-53 Korean War.
But U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Col. Chad Carroll denied a report by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that U.S. military vehicles carrying more than 200 caskets were planning to cross into North Korea on Saturday.
North Korea agreed to send home U.S. war remains during the June 12 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump.
Carroll said in an email that the U.S.-led U.N. Command was moving “assets” to a U.S. air base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, south of Seoul, and to the Joint Security Area at the border to prepare for the process, but that plans were “still preliminary.”
Earlier Saturday, Yonhap cited an unnamed source as saying that about 30 U.S. military vehicles carrying 215 caskets were expected to cross into the North on Saturday afternoon. Carroll called the report “completely false,” but didn’t immediately reply to an inquiry about the number of caskets being readied.