Remains of 10 soldiers laid to rest

Chinese People's Volunteers fought for national security and to safeguard peace

The remains of 10 Chinese soldiers who died in the 1950-53 Korean War were interred in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, on Thursday, one day after they were returned by the Republic of Korea.

The interment followed a burial service remembering the Chinese People's Volunteers' contributions to national security and world peace.

More than 200 people attended the ceremony, which began at 10 am at a martyr's park in the northeastern city.

Mourners included officials from the new Ministry of Veterans Affairs, families of the martyrs and veterans who fought nearly 70 years ago on the Korean Peninsula.

The remains, along with a number of the fallen soldiers' belongings, were enclosed in 10 brown caskets each covered by a Chinese flag and carried by goose-stepping Chinese guards of honor.

The mourners sang March of the Volunteers - the national anthem - in unison, before Qian Feng, vice-minister of veterans affairs, addressed the solemn crowd.

Qian said the brave members of the Chinese People's Volunteers took to the battlefield against a hail of bullets in the 1950s to safeguard peace and national security.

They won a hard-earned victory with their perseverance, and won the international community's respect for their motherland, he said.

Qian said they will never be forgotten and their spirit will always inspire the Chinese nation.

The mourners bowed deeply three times to the remains, with salvos fired by 27 People's Liberation Army soldiers as a tribute.

The caskets were then carried for interment in the park's underground vault.

The remains had arrived in Shenyang on Wednesday, the sixth transfer of its kind since the end of 2013, when the ROK began exhuming the remains of Chinese soldiers buried in Paju.

The remains of 589 soldiers were returned by the ROK between 2014 and 2018 on five occasions - 437 in 2014, 68 in 2015, 36 in 2016, 28 in 2017 and 20 in 2018.

About 200,000 martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers were listed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2014, with most killed during combat and buried on the Korean Peninsula.

Contact the writers at lilei@chinadaily.com.cn

The remains of Chinese soldiers who died during the Korean War are interred in a ceremony in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, on Thursday. Feng Yan / For China Daily

(China Daily 04/05/2019 page2)