The handover ceremony was held at the Incheon International Airport of South Korea on Friday, March 28. Courtesy Reuters/CCTV (Photo grabbed from Reuters/CCTV video)
(Reuters)– South Korea on Friday handed over to China the remains of 437 Chinese volunteer soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.
The handover ceremony was held at the Incheon International Airport of South Korea.
Head of the Chinese handover delegation and official from the Civil Affairs Ministry Zou Ming andMoon Sang-gyun, an official from the South Korean Defense Ministry, signed a handover protocol.
Then Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong covered coffins containing remains of soldiers of the Chinese People’s Volunteers with Chinese national flags and held a brief memorial ceremony.
The chartered plane carrying the coffins will arrive in Shenyang, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, on the same day.
Seoul and Beijing reached an agreement last year with Seoul promising to return the remains of Chinese soldiers buried in a cemetery in Paju. This move came after South Korean PresidentPark Geun-hye’s visit to China in June last year.
Head of the Chinese delegation Zou Ming said after the handover ceremony that China andSouth Korea together promoted this handover from the humanitarian perspective and in the spirit of candid, friendly and practical cooperation. He said China wanted to express thanks to the relevant departments of South Korea for their efforts and sincerity in the handover.
Some veteran soldiers of the Chinese People’s Volunteers came all the way from China to South Korea on Friday to welcome their fellow comrades home.
The Chinese People’s Volunteers were involved in the Korean War from Oct. 25, 1950, about four months after the conflict broke out, as they tried to help the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea resist U.S. aggression. Tens of thousands of CPV soldiers died on the Korean Peninsula during the war that ended in 1953.
