S. Korea agrees to return remains of Chinese soldiers killed in Korean War

SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has agreed to return to China the remains of some 20 Chinese soldiers killed during the Korean War, the government said Wednesday.

Under the agreement signed Wednesday in Seoul, the remains of former Chinese soldiers will be returned to China on Monday, according to the defense ministry.

They are the remains of Chinese soldiers killed during the 1950-53 war.

The country returned the remains of 437 Chinese soldiers in 2014 and 36 in 2015, the ministry said.

The scheduled return of the additional 20 comes amid a growing tension between Seoul and Beijing over South Korea's plan to deploy a U.S. missile defense system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.

"The Chinese side expressed its gratitude for our efforts to excavate the remains of Chinese soldiers buried here, and the two sides agreed to work together to make sure there will be a fourth shipment of remains returning to China," a ministry official told reporters.
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