South Korea Repatriates Remains of Twelve Chinese Soldiers

(MENAFN) Seoul handed over the remains of 12 Chinese soldiers killed during the Korean War to Beijing on Wednesday, in a ceremony that officials say signals a tangible warming in relations between the two neighboring powers.

The repatriation took place at Incheon International Airport in a joint handover ceremony presided over by South Korean Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee and Chinese Vice Minister of Veterans Affairs Xu Yao, according to media.

Wednesday's transfer brings the total number of Chinese People's Volunteers remains repatriated by Seoul since 2014 to 1,023 sets — a milestone rooted in a bilateral agreement signed that year to return the war dead to their homeland.

In a notable diplomatic gesture, South Korea's Defense Ministry confirmed the ceremony was held publicly for the first time in three years, a deliberate signal of improving ties between the two countries, with Seoul pledging to sustain its efforts to identify and return additional remains.

The repatriations carry deep historical weight. China entered the 1950–53 Korean War alongside North Korea, fighting against South Korean forces and their United Nations-backed allies, sustaining catastrophic casualties in the process. The conflict ended in an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty — a legal ambiguity that continues to shape the geopolitics of the peninsula to this day.

MENAFN22042026000045017169ID1111014580