CCTV9英语新闻：Remains of Chinese soldiers died in Korean War to be flown back to China（在线收听）

South Korea is preparing to repatriate more remains of Chinese soldiers killed during the Korean War. This is the third time Seoul has worked directly with Beijing without going through Pyongyang.

Remains of 36 Chinese soldiers were placed in coffins Monday, ready to be sent home this week. These soldiers were killed during the 1950-1953 Korean War while fighting alongside the DPRK, a war that ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty.

"Regarding preparation works, we inspected the remains and relics at this site, and we will have the coffin rites today, and hold the handover ceremony on March 31,” said Lee Hak-Gi, colonel of South Korean Ministry of National Defense.

"Chinese soldier remains excavated in South Korean territory were previously returned to China five times through the truce village of Panmunjeom. But in 2000, the DPRK refused to transfer the remains to China, as part of its efforts to nullify the ceasefire agreement. So, China was blocked off from receiving its own soldier remains,” said Seo Jeong Kyung, professor of Sungkyun Institute of China Studies.

But back in 2013, President Park Geun-hye offered a gesture of good will to return them directly to China. Beijing welcomed the offer and more than 500 have been repatriated since, a sign of warming ties between South Korea and China.

It is unclear how many Chinese soldiers died while fighting in the Korean War, but at least 1 million are estimated to have been involved. The fallen soldiers will finally return to China Thursday for a permanent burial at a state cemetery in Shenyang, after six long decades of waiting buried in foreign soil.