{"id":46491,"date":"2018-07-27T16:31:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T16:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/27\/how-will-the-us-know-the-war-remains-north-korea-sent-are-real-qa-with-mattis\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:10:20","slug":"how-will-the-us-know-the-war-remains-north-korea-sent-are-real-qa-with-mattis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2018\/07\/27\/how-will-the-us-know-the-war-remains-north-korea-sent-are-real-qa-with-mattis\/","title":{"rendered":"How will the US know the war remains North Korea sent are real? Q&A with Mattis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met with Pentagon reporters Friday and took many questions on the return of possible war remains from North Korea.<\/a> He spoke on what it means for military families who have never had closure, and how the U.S. will verify the remains are real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: We\u2019ve been working [for] years and years to get the remains back, what does it mean for you personally?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattis: <\/b>\u201cWhat it means for us. We have families, that when they got the telegram, have never had closure.<\/a> They\u2019ve never, you know, gone out and had the body returned. So what we\u2019re seeing here is an opportunity to give those families closure. To make certain that we continue to look for those remaining.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy the way, you noticed it was a U.N. blue flag on each of the boxes. Many of the U.N. nations with us also have missing. We don\u2019t know who is in those boxes. As we discover it, they will be returned. They could go to Australia, they have missing. France has missing. The Americans \u2013 there\u2019s a whole lot of us. So this is an international effort to bring closure for those families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Two years ago, North Korean officials offered to repatriate 200 remains. So, why only 55 caskets? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattis: <\/b>\u201cWe can\u2019t go back in and verify what the number they had was. We know what they said. But for us, we\u2019ll simply say this is obviously a gesture of carrying forward what they agreed to in Singapore, and we take it as such. We also look at it as a first step in a restarted process. So we do want to explore additional efforts to bring others home, perhaps have our own teams go in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Have the North Koreans provided any evidence that the remains they provided to the U.S. service members, and not, say, North Korean remains? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reason those remains aren\u2019t on their way back to the United States right now, is, that they are first going to be reviewed initially there in Korea. and we\u2019ll look for any anomalies where they\u2019re not what we think they might be. And then the forensics will begin when we land them in Hawaii, where the laboratory is. But we have no indications that there is anything amiss. But we don\u2019t know, we can\u2019t confirm it one way or another. That is why we go through all of the forensics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t