Nation honors fallen soldiers returned from South Korea

The remains of 30 Chinese soldiers who died during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53) were returned to China on Friday.

A Y-20 strategic transport plane of the People's Liberation Army Air Force carried the remains and belongings of the soldiers from Incheon, South Korea, to Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province, on Friday morning.

The fallen soldiers are scheduled to be buried on Saturday at a martyrs' cemetery in Shenyang, according to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. The repatriation was arranged under an agreement between the ministry and South Korea's Ministry of National Defense.

Led by Peng Dehuai, commander-in-chief of the Chinese People's Volunteers army, nearly 2.9 million Chinese soldiers fought in the war. More than 197,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians recruited by the CPV died in combat.

South Korea began recovering the remains of fallen Chinese soldiers in 2000 and started returning them in 2014. To date, the two countries have conducted 12 handovers involving the remains and belongings of 1,011 CPV martyrs.

A high-level Chinese delegation and a group of PLA honor guards arrived in South Korea on Wednesday to carry out the latest handover mission. On Thursday, a ceremony was held in Incheon, where the remains were placed in caskets covered with the Chinese national flag.

On Friday morning, the remains were officially delivered to the Chinese delegation at Incheon International Airport. Chinese personnel then held a memorial ceremony before escorting the remains back to China.

As soon as the Y-20 aircraft entered Chinese airspace, four J-20 stealth fighter jets flew alongside it in a choreographed escort to honor the fallen.

After landing at Shenyang Tao-xian International Airport, the transport plane stopped in front of a large crowd of government officials, military members, veterans and relatives of the soldiers for a solemn welcoming ceremony.

Wu Jiyang, a PLA Ground Force soldier who carried one of the caskets from the plane, said the soldiers had "waited" 75 years to return home.

"We will always wait for their return home, no matter how long it takes," Wu said after the ceremony.

Yuan Ruihan, a second-grade student at Northeast Yucai School in Shenyang, who attended the event, said seeing the return of the martyrs made her understand that "peace came to us thanks to their sacrifice". She said she will strive to inherit their courage and valor to honor the martyrs.

Contact the writers at zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn