Soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army carry coffins containing remains of soldiers of the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) dead in the 1950-53 Korean War, during a handover ceremony at the Incheon International Airport of South Korea, March 28, 2014. South Korea on Friday handed over to China the remains of 437 CPV soldiers dead in the Korean War. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin) 
 
 INCHEON, South Korea, March 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea on Friday handed over to China the remains of 437 Chinese volunteer soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War. 
 
 A transfer ceremony was held Friday morning at the Incheon International Airport, about 50 km west of the capital of Seoul, where remains and belongings of the fallen soldiers were handed over to a Chinese delegation. 
 
 Zou Ming, an official from the Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry, and Moon Sang-gyun, an official from the South Korean Defense Ministry, signed a transferral protocol. 
 
 The Chinese delegation paid homage to the flag-draped coffins before a Chinese honor guard escorted them to a plane bound for Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, where a solemn welcome ceremony will be held. 
 
 Zou said China and South Korea had jointly contributed to the handover of the remains on the basis of a sincere, friendly, cooperative and humanitarian spirit. 
 
 China appreciated the cooperation and efforts made by the South Korean authorities, as well as the friendship and goodwill the South Korean media and public showed toward the repatriation, he added. 
 
 The two countries agreed to establish a long-term cooperative mechanism to return the soldiers' remains before the traditional Chinese Tomb-Sweeping Day every year. 
 
 The Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) fought side by side with the Korean People's Army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the Korean War against the South Korean army and U.S.-led UN forces. Tens of thousands of CPV soldiers died on the Korean Peninsula during the war, which ended in an armistice in 1953. 
 
 The Chinese soldiers were buried scatteredly to the south of the Military Demarcation Line on the peninsula. In recent years, their remains had been excavated, identified and reburied in South Korea's border city of Paju. 
 
 South Korean President Park Geun-hye offered to repatriate remains of the fallen Chinese soldiers in June 2013. 
 
 The excavation in Paju started in December and lasted for three months as the remains have to be cleaned, dried and identified in extremely cold weather. 
 
 Around 14,000 South Korean soldiers, experts and technicians were involved in the excavation and identification procedures, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry. 
 
 On March 17, China and South Korea started encoffining remains of the Chinese volunteer soldiers. 
 
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 SEOUL, March 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's Defense Ministry said Monday that it will return more than 400 sets of remains of Chinese volunteer soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War later this month. ||||| BEIJING (AP) — The remains of 437 Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War returned home Friday, more than 60 years after an armistice ended the fighting. 
 
 Chinese honor guards lift caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers after caskets were covered with Chinese national flags during the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International... (Associated Press) 
 
 Chinese honor guards holding caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers take part in the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea Friday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong covers caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers with a Chinese national flag during the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International... (Associated Press) 
 
 Chinese honor guards, right, hold caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers during the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea Friday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Chinese honor guards hold caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers during the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea Friday, March... (Associated Press) 
 
 A Chinese plane carrying the caskets arrived in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang, following a handover ceremony at the Incheon International Airport in Seoul between the South Korean and Chinese governments. South Korean Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo said the gesture was aimed at fostering "an international community full of humanitarianism and trust." 
 
 In the 1950-53 Korean War, China fought on North Korea's side against U.N. forces led by the United States. 
 
 The return of the soldiers' remains became possible when South Korean President Park Geun-hye offered to send them back during a visit to China last June, highlighting warming ties between the former combatants. 
 
 Qin Furong, whose father died in the war, said she appreciated the move, although it's unclear if her father's remains were among those returned because many were still unidentified. 
 
 "We relatives feel gratitude that they could return the bodies to our home country, and I'm glad to see the friendliness South Korea shows toward us," Qin said. 
 
 In Seoul, Zou Ming, an official from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs, thanked South Korea for its "proactive efforts and sincerity." 
 
 For decades, the remains had been buried on a quiet hillside just south of South Korea's border with North Korea, outside the city of Paju. In recent years, the burying ground became popular with Chinese tourists visiting Paju. 
 
 Beijing has never given a precise number for its Korean War dead, but estimates run as high as 900,000. 
 
 While China remains North Korea's only real ally, it has also established close ties with the South since the two normalized diplomatic relations in 1992. China has overtaken the U.S. as South Korea's biggest trading partner, with two-way commerce between the two hitting $215 billion in 2012. 
 
 The Chinese soldiers' bodies were returned just ahead of China's traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day when families remember their dead ancestors. They are to be reburied in Shenyang, and it was not immediately clear if the Chinese government planned to carry out DNA testing of the remains. 
 
 Qin, who did not go to Shenyang on Friday, said she plans to visit the new burial ground in the city on the day of remembrance, April 5. 
 
 "Now that they are retuned, I will visit the grave on Tomb-Sweeping Day every April," she said. ||||| The refusal meant that the remains of the other 437 Chinese soldiers were caught in the long and sometimes violent standoff between the two Koreas. 
 
 A breakthrough came last June during a visit by President Park Geun-hye of South Korea to China. As part her efforts to cultivate closer ties between the countries, she offered to send the Chinese remains home. China is North Korea’s last remaining major ally, but it has appeared intent on closer ties with South Korea as part of its strategy of countering United States influence in the region. 
 
 And under Ms. Park, South Korea — while still a close ally of Washington — has also seemed committed to better relations with China, which has overtaken the United States as South Korea’s biggest trading partner since Beijing normalized its relations with Seoul in 1992. Each year, millions of Chinese tourists visit South Korea. 
 
 “The repatriation today will be a landmark for the two countries in healing the trauma from the past and moving toward co-prosperity,” South Korea’s deputy defense minister, Baek Seung-joo, said during a ceremony held at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. 
 
 During the ceremony, the Chinese ambassador, Qiu Guohong, placed Chinese flags on the dark brown coffins that contained the remains, which were then carried aboard a plane by Chinese soldiers. The remains of the soldiers, the last from China that have been found, are expected to be interred in the resting place for China’s Korean War dead, known as the Resist America and Aid Korea Martyrs Cemetery, in northeastern China.
– The last of the Chinese soldiers who helped North Korea avoid defeat in the Korean War six decades ago have finally gone home. South Korea today repatriated the remains of 437 soldiers from China who have been in the so-called "enemy cemetery" near the city of Paju all these years, reports the Xinhua News Agency. The gesture, marked by an official handover ceremony, is a sign of warming ties between the two nations, reports AP. The move doesn't mean that the "enemy cemetery" is empty, however. The New York Times reports that the remains of 770 North Korean soldiers are still buried there, and Pyongyang refuses to negotiate for their return. Doing so "would be seen as a gesture of closing the war, which North Korea insists will not be over until Washington signs a peace treaty with it," writes Choe Sang-Hun.