Bodies of hundreds of China’s Korean War dead could be returned home

The remains of hundreds of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War may finally return home, 60 years after an armistice ended the fighting.

On a recent visit to China, South Korean President Park Geun-hye offered to send back the remains of about 360 Chinese soldiers buried in a cemetery outside the city of Paju, a friendly gesture highlighting warming ties between the former combatants.

“Families in China must be waiting for their return,” Park said to Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong, according to a statement from Park’s office.

Liu promised to pass the message to China’s top leaders, though it’s unknown whether Beijing will accept the offer. Foreign Ministry representative Hua Chunying said Wednesday she didn’t know where China stood on the offer, but that the issue should be “resolved on the basis of humanitarianism.”

The bodies are buried on a hillside just south of the heavily guarded border with North Korea. Most of the Chinese dead have never been identified.

Several hundred North Korean soldiers are also buried at the site because Pyongyang refuses to take back the bodies.

While China remains North Korea’s only real ally, it has also established close ties with the South since the nations normalized diplomatic relations in 1992. China has overtaken the U.S. as South Korea’s biggest trading partner, with two-way commerce hitting $215 billion in 2012.

Beijing has never given a precise number for its Korean War dead because it claims Chinese troops all volunteered to defend a communist ally from what was portrayed as U.S. aggression. However, estimates of Chinese war dead run as high as 900,000, the bulk of them killed in the final year of the war, when the U.S. and its allies unleashed overwhelming firepower to force an end to the conflict.

With its hundreds of fading white wooden grave markers surrounded by forest and rice paddies, the cemetery has become a popular stop for Chinese tourists visiting Paju, according to Kim Dong-hun, the head of a group responsible for maintaining the cemetery.

Despite the potential loss of Chinese visitors, Kim said he was “very positive” about Park’s offer. Sorting and repatriating the bodies would likely take some time, and new Chinese and North Korean remains continue to surface, he said.

Thursday 4 July 2013

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