Politics

Why Are The American Remains Returning From The Korean War Draped In United Nations Flag?

Kim Hong-Ji - Pool/Getty Images

Benny Johnson Columnist, Viral Politics
Font Size:

One of the most important results of President Trump’s negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is the return of the remains of American troops who perished during the Korean War half a century ago.

The remains of over fifty U.S. servicemen arrived in South Korea in accordance with an agreement made between Trump and Kim Jong Un last month.

The remains were transported from North Korea to Osan Air Base at Pyeongtaek, South Korea, where a formal acceptance ceremony for the remains was performed.

U.N. honor guards carried the boxes containing the still unconfirmed remains of U.S. servicemen killed during the Korean War. The date the remains landed in the South happened to be July 27 — the 65th anniversary of the armistice that ended the open hostilities of the Korean War.

AHN YOUNG-JOON/AFP/Getty Images

The boxes of the remains were carried off the transport by the honor guard representing each branch of the U.S. military. The boxes were covered in blue United Nations flags.

Seeing the remains of deceased American military carried under the flag of the United Nations is an odd sight and the reason why this is happening may not be immediately evident for those unfamiliar with one of America’s lesser-known conflicts.

The reason for this is because the Korean War was one between the United Nations and North Korea and its allies. America was acting as the principal military force.

After war broke out between the North and South, the United Nations authorized the deployment of U.N. forces to protect the Republic of Korea. The U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 82 and 83 unanimously, condemning the North Korean aggression and recommending military assistance to the South. The United States contributed the overwhelming majority of the twenty-one country United Nations force, which deployed to the Korean peninsula.

There were many shifts in power and land between the communist-backed North Korean forces and U.N. forces in the first two years. Bloody fighting cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides. On July 27, 1953, an armistice was signed demarcating the 38th parallel as the Korean Demilitarized Zone. A peace treaty was never signed between the two sides, who are still frozen in conflict. Therefore, the U.S. forces remains are returned as a function of the original U.N. force under which they were deployed.

Kim Hong-Ji – Pool/Getty Images

Kim Hong-Ji – Pool/Getty Images

Kim Hong-Ji – Pool/Getty Images

KIM HONG-JI/AFP/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

A White House statement said, “Today’s actions represent a significant first step to recommence the repatriation of remains from North Korea and to resume field operations in North Korea to search for the estimated 5,300 Americans who have not yet returned home.”

The remains will be flown to a military laboratory in Hawaii for identification.

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

Ahn Young-joon – Pool/Getty Images

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel