ⓒYONHAP News

President Moon Jae-in returned home on Thursday after a five-day trip to the U.S. to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

During the trip, Moon attended the opening ceremony of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) Moment event and vowed that Seoul would actively participate in efforts to address environment and other global issues.

The president repeated a call for a formal end to the Korean War in his address to the UN General Assembly, proposing the two Koreas and the United States, possibly joined by China, make such a declaration. 

On the sidelines of the general assembly, Moon held bilateral summit talks with the leaders of Britain, Slovenia and Vietnam.

As for COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy, Moon held talks with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and attended a signing ceremony for a South Korea-U.S. global vaccine partnership in New York.

In Hawaii, Moon visited the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and awarded posthumous medals to two Korean immigrants in recognition of their independence activities during Japan's colonial rule of Korea.

The remains of dozens of South Korean soldiers killed during the Korean War have been repatriated from the U.S.

Moon presided over a repatriation ceremony at the Seoul Air Base, south of Seoul, on Thursday night arranged for the 68 sets of remains arriving from Honolulu, Hawaii.

The event was held immediately after Moon returned from the U.S.

Eight bereaved family members of two identified soldiers — privates first class Kim Seok-joo and Jung Hwan-jo — were among some 20 attendees, along with the president, First Lady Kim Jung-sook, Defense Minister Suh Wook and other top military commanders.

Patriots and Veterans Affairs Minister Hwang Ki-chul and Presidential Chief of Staff You Young-min also attended the ceremony, which the top office said was held with the highest level of courtesy for the war remains.

The remains will be enshrined at the Seoul National Cemetery.