A Chinese military plane from South Korea landed yesterday in Shenyang, in Northeast China, with the remains of 25 Chinese soldiers who participated in the Korean War (1950-53), local press reported.
This is the tenth shipment of this type from South Korea to China, since repatriation began in 2014, following an agreement reached between the two countries.
China has received the remains of a total of 938 soldiers who participated in the war, in which 197,600 Chinese soldiers died, according to Beijing’s figures, which are lower than estimates from some US sources.
In Shenyang, a city located regarding 350 kilometers from the border between China and North Korea, the 25 soldiers will be buried in a cemetery, built in 1952 and intended to house the bodies of soldiers who participated in the Korean conflict.
The vast majority of Chinese soldiers who died in Korea – including Mao Anying, son of then-Chinese leader Mao Zedong – are buried on North Korean soil.
In Pyongyang, there is a memorial to Chinese soldiers who died in the war, which has been visited by Chinese leaders in recent years, during official trips to the neighboring country.
Over the past two years, the Korean War, known in China as the “War of Resistance to US Aggression and Aid to Korea”, has attracted considerable attention in China following the patriotic film “The Battle of Changjin Lake”. .
The film broke box office records in the country by grossing 5.78 billion yuan (742 million euros).
Several schools in different parts of the country showed the film to students with the aim of instilling patriotic feelings, although criticism arose due to the violence of some scenes.
More than 2 million Chinese soldiers fought in the Korean War, supporting North Korea once morest South Korea and the United States.
