Trump says North Korea has begun returning remains of US soldiers

President Donald Trump said Friday that North Korean officials have started to return the remains of U.S. soldiers who went missing in the country during the Korean War.

Trump told reporters gathered Tuesday in Singapore that he and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un discussed bringing the remains of American soldiers back to the U.S. during their historic meeting.

“They are already starting to produce the remains of these great soldiers,” Trump said Friday while speaking with reporters gathered on the front lawn of the White House.

"He's giving us back our great heroes who died," Trump told "Fox and Friends" on Friday. "We're getting the remains, and nobody thought that was possible."

The president said he got “everything” in the agreement with Kim. Both men committed to working toward the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” after Tuesday’s meeting, which marked the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

The president hailed the meeting as a success, although critics worried that his decision to meet with Kim provided the autocrat with legitimacy. Kim has been accused of ordering the assassination of his half brother, executing his uncle and presiding over a gulag estimated to hold 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, according to The Associated Press.

Critics also questioned the president’s decision to end the United States’ “war games,” or joint military exercises, with South Korea as negotiations with North Korea continue. It was not immediately clear whether South Korean officials were aware of Trump’s decision before Tuesday’s announcement.

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