--- title: Behind the Date Chosen for Korean War Remains Handover description: On the 65th anniversary of the end of fighting in the Korean War, a handover is planned But North Korea and South Korea are still at war. canonical: https://time.com/5343628/korean-war-armistice-remains/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-26T20:00:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:54:20.000Z article:section: History og:title: Behind the Date Chosen for Korean War Remains Handover og:description: North Korea and South Korea are technically still at war og:url: https://time.com/5343628/korean-war-armistice-remains/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7024a38847e0e0f9/698935ce7cdbacb3fdd5d764/armistice-signing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: armistice-signing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Behind the Date Chosen for Korean War Remains Handover twitter:description: North Korea and South Korea are technically still at war twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7024a38847e0e0f9/698935ce7cdbacb3fdd5d764/armistice-signing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The History Behind the Date Chosen for the Repatriation of Korean War Remains  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jul 26, 2018 8:00 PM UTC  General W. K. Harrison, Jr., left, and North Korean General Nam Il, right, signs the armistice ending the three year Korean conflict, Panmunjom, Korea, July 1953. General W. K. Harrison, Jr., left, and North Korean General Nam Il, right, signs the armistice ending the three year Korean conflict, Panmunjom, Korea, July 1953.Interim Archives  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jul 26, 2018 8:00 PM UTC On Friday, North Korea is set to hand over a set of presumed remains of prisoners of war and those missing in action during the Korean War, after Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump signed a statement promising the [“immediate repatriation of those already identified”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-expecting-war-dead-remains-from-north-korea-within-2-weeks-official-says/2018/07/17/83255950-898f-11e8-8b20-60521f27434e%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.342efbe0197e) during their [summit](http://time.com/magazine/us/5311954/june-25th-2018-vol-191-no-24-u-s/) in Singapore in June. The ceremony is deliberately taking place on the 65th anniversary of the [signing](http://time.com/5253054/north-korea-south-korea-war-history/) of the [armistice](https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=85) that ended the roughly three years of fighting between 1950 and 1953\. It was signed by U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison Jr. of the United Nations Command Delegation and North Korean General Nam Il, who also served as China’s representative, at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone bordering North Korea and South Korea. The armistice put a halt to outright hostilities between the two sides, but the Associated Press [reports that](https://apnews.com/4488720625084a2da854da2bfdbb7623), more than half a century later, 7,699 U.S. service members are still missing from the Korean War. In a [recent online essay](https://www.iiss.org/blogs/survival-blog/2018/07/korean-war-remains-bones-as-chips), Mark Fitzpatrick, who heads up the non-proliferation and nuclear policy program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote that “North Korea treats the remains issue as bait to obtain political objectives.” And, though efforts to repatriate such remains have been going on for [decades](https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2016/03/24/remains-of-u-s-mias-in-north-korea-in-political-limbo/), identification and recovery of the remains of those Americans who never came home from the war remains [an ongoing project](http://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/). Contributing to the difficulty is the fact that the armistice signed in 1953 was a ceasefire, but not a permanent peace treaty. The people who signed it were well aware of the future conflict that might cause, but willing to take what they could get at the time. The week after the signing, TIME described the feeling of unfinished business in the [room](http://time.com/vault/issue/1953-08-03/page/1/): --- > “” --- The two parties expected to draw up a more permanent peace treaty at the Geneva conference the following year, but they came to an impasse. [_Read more here on why North Korea and South Korea are technically still at war_](http://time.com/5253054/north-korea-south-korea-war-history/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5343628/korean-war-armistice-remains/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5343628/korean-war-armistice-remains/"},"headline":"The History Behind the Date Chosen for the Repatriation of Korean War Remains","datePublished":"2018-07-26T20:00:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:54:20.000Z","description":"North Korea and South Korea are technically still at war","url":"https://time.com/5343628/korean-war-armistice-remains/","keywords":["Foreign Relations"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7024a38847e0e0f9/698935ce7cdbacb3fdd5d764/armistice-signing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7024a38847e0e0f9/698935ce7cdbacb3fdd5d764/armistice-signing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"armistice-signing","caption":"General W. K. Harrison, Jr., left, and North Korean General Nam Il, right, signs the armistice ending the three year Korean conflict, Panmunjom, Korea, July 1953.","creditText":"Interim Archives","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/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-relations/","name":"Foreign Relations"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5343628/korean-war-armistice-remains/","name":"The History Behind the Date Chosen for the Repatriation of Korean War Remains"}}]}] ```