--- title: Trump Praises Kim for Returning Remains of Korean War Dead description: President Trump announced that remains of U.S. soldiers are on their way home from North Korea, praising Kim Jong Un for keeping his promise canonical: https://time.com/5351178/donald-trump-praises-kim-jong-un-return-war-dead/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-27T15:02:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:59:03.754Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Praises Kim Jong Un for Returning Remains of American Korean War Dead og:description: "I want to thank Chairman Kim in front of the media for fulfilling a promise that he made to me" og:url: https://time.com/5351178/donald-trump-praises-kim-jong-un-return-war-dead/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd89bb4d205afa99d/6989367afb4eac342e89739f/presidentdonaldtrump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Gives Remarks On The Economy On The White House South Lawn og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Praises Kim Jong Un for Returning Remains of American Korean War Dead twitter:description: "I want to thank Chairman Kim in front of the media for fulfilling a promise that he made to me" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd89bb4d205afa99d/6989367afb4eac342e89739f/presidentdonaldtrump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Praises Kim Jong Un for Returning Remains of American Korean War Dead  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 27, 2018 3:02 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 27: U.S. President Donald Trump (L) makes remarks on the economy at the South Lawn of the White House on July 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. The U.S. economy grew 4.1% in the second quarter, the fastest pace since 2014\. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 27: U.S. President Donald Trump (L) makes remarks on the economy at the South Lawn of the White House on July 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. The U.S. economy grew 4.1% in the second quarter, the fastest pace since 2014\. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)Alex Wong—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 27, 2018 3:02 PM UTC President Donald Trump announced Friday that [remains of American soldiers](http://time.com/5350836/north-korea-war-remains/) are on their way home from North Korea, praising Kim Jong Un for keeping his promise. “At this moment a plane is carrying the remains of some great fallen heroes from America back from the Korean War,” Trump said outside the White House after [touting the latest economic growth](http://time.com/5351103/us-economy-growth-rate-second-quarter-2018/) Friday morning. “I want to thank Chairman Kim in front of the media for fulfilling a promise that he made to me, and I’m sure that he will continue to fulfill that promise.” Trump said Vice President Mike Pence would be with the families as the remains arrive back in the United States. The remains of an estimated 55 service members are being returned today. The remains of about 5,300 Americans are [believed to still be in North Korea](http://time.com/5350836/north-korea-war-remains/). The return of the bodies marks a [tangible result](http://time.com/5333837/donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-month/) of Trump’s meeting in Singapore with Kim in June. But it remains to be seen whether Kim will follow through on the larger goal of the summit: North Korea’s denuclearization. “Does \[the return of remains\] mean North Korea is willing to denuclearize? I just don’t see that connection,” Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea specialist at Troy University in Seoul, [told TIME](http://time.com/5350984/north-korea-war-remains-returned/). “Their ideology, how they view the world system, is still consistent with maintaining a nuclear arsenal.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5351178/donald-trump-praises-kim-jong-un-return-war-dead/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5351178/donald-trump-praises-kim-jong-un-return-war-dead/"},"headline":"President Trump Praises Kim Jong Un for Returning Remains of American Korean War Dead","datePublished":"2018-07-27T15:02:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:59:03.754Z","description":"\"I want to thank Chairman Kim in front of the media for fulfilling a promise that he made to me\"","url":"https://time.com/5351178/donald-trump-praises-kim-jong-un-return-war-dead/","keywords":["White House","North Korea","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd89bb4d205afa99d/6989367afb4eac342e89739f/presidentdonaldtrump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd89bb4d205afa99d/6989367afb4eac342e89739f/presidentdonaldtrump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Gives Remarks On The Economy On The White House South Lawn","caption":"President Trump Gives Remarks On The Economy On The White House South Lawn","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5351178/donald-trump-praises-kim-jong-un-return-war-dead/","name":"President Trump Praises Kim Jong Un for Returning Remains of American Korean War Dead"}}]}] ```