China buries more than 400 Korean War dead returned by Seoul
Funeral held in Shenyang for over 400 Chinese soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War after Seoul in March repatriated the remains in a sign of thawing relations
China held a grand funeral for more than 400 Chinese soldiers killed fighting in the Korean War more than six decades ago, state media reported, as ties between the former ideological foes steadily improve.
The remains of the 437 soldiers, which were returned by Seoul earlier this year, were laid to rest in the Martyrs’ Park in the northeastern city of Shenyang, the official Xinhua news agency said.
A nine-gun salute sounded and more than 800 government officials, veterans and relatives sang the national anthem, it said, with nine coffins draped in the Chinese flag lined up before a commemorative pillar.
“Every Chinese person could gain courage and strength here.”
“It is comforting to see them back and buried here,” Xinhua quoted 85-year-old veteran Lu Shouhu as saying at Wednesday’s ceremony.
He once dug a pit to bury a dead comrade on a battlefield, he said, adding: “I wonder if he is among those nameless martyrs.”
The government-published put a report of the event on its front page on Thursday.
Beijing and Seoul only established diplomatic relations in 1992 as Cold War enmities gave way to booming trade and cooperation, and they sometimes find themselves on the same diplomatic side against Tokyo over historical issues relating to Japan’s 20th-century aggression in Asia.
