SK returns remains of 10 Chinese soldiers

South Korea returned the remains of 10 Chinese volunteer soldiers killed in the Korean War (195053) to China on Wednesday.

Two Chinese J-11 fighter jets escorted an Il-76 transport plane carrying the remains of the 10 soldiers and 145 belongings of the fallen soldiers upon its entry of Chinese airspace.

The transport plane landed at Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China’s Liaoning Province at 11:36 am on Wednesday.

Representatives of Chinese authorities including those from the Ministry of Veterans Affairs held a ceremony as the martyrs returned to their motherland.

The remains will be buried in a martyrs cemetery in Shenyang along with the remains of other soldiers handed over by South Korea previously. A burial ceremony will be held on Thursday at the cemetery.

This is the sixth time South Korea has returned the remains of Chinese volunteer soldiers since 2014. The country had transferred the remains of 589 Chinese volunteer soldiers killed in the Korean War, including 437 in 2014, 68 in 2015, 36 in 2016, 28 in 2017 and 20 in 2018, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

China and South Korea have consulted every year on the handover of the Chinese soldiers’ remains found in South Korea. The transfer usually comes in the days before Qinming Festival or Tomb-sweeping Day, the Chinese holiday for commemorating the dead, in early April, Xinhua reported.

The Chinese People’s Volunteers fought side by side with the North Korean army in the Korean War against the South Korean army and US-led UN forces between 1950 and 1953.

During the war, 197,653 Chinese soldiers died on the Korean Peninsula which ended in a truce in 1953, media reported.