North Korea Returns Remains of U.S. Troops, and it Matters

By Alex Parker | 9:30 AM on June 21, 2018

The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.

On Wednesday, President Trump announced that North Korea had returned the remains of 200 missing U.S. soldiers from the Korean War.

Trump delivered the news to a crowd in Duluth, Minnesota:

“We got back our great fallen heroes, the remains sent back today, already 200 got sent back.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials had predicted Tuesday that the East Asian country would soon be delivering a “sizeable number” of troops’ remains to South Korea’s United Nations Command, which would then be taken to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

From 1950 to 1953, approximately 7,700 American service members went missing. North Korea had previously notified the U.S. that they possessed the remains of up to 200 of our men. By contrast, more than 36,500 died in the brutal war. Over 58,000 died in Vietnam, which lasted almost 20 years.

North Korea to return remains of up to 200 American service members killed during the Korean War pic.twitter.com/qVyZCsVUZU

— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) June 20, 2018

Not everyone was thrilled with the President’s treatment of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the groundbreaking June 12th summit:

All those 110 year-old parents of veterans of the Korean War who lobbied Trump are not gonna be happy he saluted a North Korean general…

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) June 15, 2018

However, diplomacy is the only alternative to force, as a method to acquire what one desires. In this case, Trump attained something that was — and is — ours. And that is a great thing.

Our country needs its soldiers with us. All of them. Not the least of which are those from a time when men fought in the face of unimaginable threat, long before college students with no appreciation for that sacrifice cowered with fear under the imposition of unaccepting words and uncomfortable ideas. Those who fought in the Korean War were truly courageous. It is only right for them to be here; this is, after all, their home…a land of the free. Thanks to the brave.