China to seek return of remains of Chinese soldiers from S. Korea

Chinese media reported Thursday that China`s Ministry of Civil Affairs plans to seek ways to take over the remains of Chinese soldiers killed in South Korea during the Korean War. The announcement came after South Korean President Park Geun-hye offered to repatriate the remains during her visit to China late last month.

Xin Jing Bao (Beijing News), Chinese daily published in the Chinese capital, carried a full-page article on the planned takeover the remains of 360 Chinese soldiers. An official at the ministry said that Seoul`s offer to repatriate the remains is an important issue and that the ministry will seek measures to properly take them over by consulting with other government agencies including the foreign ministry, according to the report. Although the remarks were not the ministry`s official response, they suggested that the ministry is having in-depth internal discussions about the issue. China`s foreign ministry and the Chinese military are also involved in the issue.

Beijing is contemplating on the offer because it will likely have great ripple effects. The issue attracts great interest from the Chinese public and affects Beijing`s ties with Seoul and Pyongyang. The repatriation process will be subject to the 1953 Armistice Agreement, as it involves the Military Armistice Commission, whose operation has been limited by North Korea since the mid-1990s.

The Chinese daily reported that the Ministry of Civil Affairs has been in charge of maintaining facilities commemorating overseas martyrs since August 1, 2011. In recent years, Chinese leaders and scholars have shown interest in the remains of Chinese soldiers buried overseas. The newspaper reported that China has three cemeteries for Chinese soldiers killed during the Korean War -- in Shenyang and Dandong in Liaoning province and Chibi in Hebei province.

According to Xin Jing Bao and Hong Kong Phoenix, an estimated 115,217 Chinese soldiers are buried overseas and 99 percent of them are buried on the Korean Peninsula after being killed in action during the Korean War. The rest include 1,117 soldiers killed during the Vietnam War and 100 others.