# What is in the "unspecified document" that Trump and Kim signed?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-in-the-unspecified-document-that-trump-and-kim-signed/815949>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [June 12, 2018, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-in-the-unspecified-document-that-trump-and-kim-signed/815949 "2018-06-12T06:49:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-in-the-unspecified-document-that-trump-and-kim-signed/815949/41 "2018-06-14T14:22:04Z")

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> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> [Document](https://www.scribd.com/document/381604014/White-House-Statement#fullscreen&from_embed)
> 
> I’m curious about #4:
> 
> “The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.”
> 
> Is the US or one of our allies (Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, etc.) holding any North Koreans prisoner at the moment? I could see that being an issue if Trump offered to deliver them back all of the prisoners we’re holding, without actually asking our allies if they were willing to let them go.

This clearly refers to remains of military personnel rather than living persons, even (probably apocryphal) long surviving UN prisoners of the Korean War held in NK any time recently. As someone else mentioned it would also be a stretch to make this include Japanese civilians abducted to NK over the years which perhaps it should include, or to include NK defectors which it should not. Words don’t have much meaning if ‘remains of POW/MIA’ means abducted civilians or defectors. And there’s no ambiguity in translation here, the Korean version is equally clear on this point.

It’s possible remains of NK military personnel could still be found in SK: there are certainly such remains there though it’s never AFAIK been an active project to try to find and identify particular people as it has been in case of UN, particularly US, POW/MIA remains in NK. So it wasn’t necessary to say it only referred to US POW/MIA.

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**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-in-the-unspecified-document-that-trump-and-kim-signed/815949/42 "2018-06-17T05:28:12Z")

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> [@ElvisL1ves](#):
>
> Kim used a Mont Blanc, Trump used a Sharpie. Interpret that as you wish.

He used Sharpie on Stormy too.

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-in-the-unspecified-document-that-trump-and-kim-signed/815949/43 "2018-06-17T08:30:17Z")

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> [@Batano](#):
>
> He used Sharpie on Stormy too.

Cite? I thought all we knew for sure was that he asked her to slap him with a magazine that had his face on the cover.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On another matter, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell was amused by Trump’s claim that he extracted the concession to repatriate dead Korean-era soldiers _to fulfill a campaign promise made to “many many parents” of those soldiers._ Essentially all the parents of U.S. soldiers MIA by 1953 would have been _at least 101 years old in 2016_.

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