51³Ô¹ÏÍø

INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - SEPTEMBER 2: The repatriation ceremony is in progress on September 2, 2021, in Incheon, South Korea. A repatriation ceremony was held for the remains of 109 Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, at the Incheon International Airport, west of South Korea's capital Seoul, on Thursday morning. Chang Zhengguo, China's vice-minister of veterans affairs attended the ceremony, with the Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming covered the coffins of the remains with the Chinese national flag. A plane dispatched by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s Air Force will transport the remains to the Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in northeast China's Liaoning Province after the ceremony. It is the eighth repatriation of this kind following a handover agreement signed by the two countries. Earlier Wednesday, a ceremony to lay the 109 remains in coffins was held at Incheon Airport. Representatives from the Chinese and South Korean governments as well as military personnel from both sides attended the ceremony. According to the South Korean defence ministry, 109 remains and 1,226 related relics were excavated from six regions in South Korea between 2019 and 2020. In 2014, South Korea agreed with China to repatriate the remains of fallen Chinese soldiers according to international law and humanitarian spirit, the ministry said. From 2014 to 2020, South Korea had returned the remains of 716 Chinese People's Volunteers martyrs killed in the Korean War, including 437 in 2014, 68 in 2015, 36 in 2016, 28 in 2017, 20 in 2018, 10 in 2019 and 117 in 2020. The Chinese People's Volunteers fought alongside the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) army in the Korean War against the South Korean army and the U.S.-led UN forces between 1950 and 1953. (Footage by CCTV+ via Getty Images)