(Xinhua/Yao Qilin) 
 
 INCHEON, South Korea, March 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea on Friday handed over to China the remains of 437 Chinese volunteer soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War. Chinese honor guards lift caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers after caskets were covered with Chinese national flags during the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International... (Associated Press) 
 
 Chinese honor guards holding caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers take part in the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea Friday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong covers caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers with a Chinese national flag during the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International... (Associated Press) 
 
 Chinese honor guards, right, hold caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers during the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea Friday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Chinese honor guards hold caskets containing the remains of Chinese soldiers during the handing over ceremony of the remains at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea Friday, March... (Associated Press) 
 
 A Chinese plane carrying the caskets arrived in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang, following a handover ceremony at the Incheon International Airport in Seoul between the South Korean and Chinese governments. “The repatriation today will be a landmark for the two countries in healing the trauma from the past and moving toward co-prosperity,” South Korea’s deputy defense minister, Baek Seung-joo, said during a ceremony held at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. The Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) fought side by side with the Korean People's Army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the Korean War against the South Korean army and U.S.-led UN forces. The return of the soldiers' remains became possible when South Korean President Park Geun-hye offered to send them back during a visit to China last June, highlighting warming ties between the former combatants. Zou Ming, an official from the Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry, and Moon Sang-gyun, an official from the South Korean Defense Ministry, signed a transferral protocol. For decades, the remains had been buried on a quiet hillside just south of South Korea's border with North Korea, outside the city of Paju. In recent years, the burying ground became popular with Chinese tourists visiting Paju. And under Ms. Park, South Korea — while still a close ally of Washington — has also seemed committed to better relations with China, which has overtaken the United States as South Korea’s biggest trading partner since Beijing normalized its relations with Seoul in 1992. The two countries agreed to establish a long-term cooperative mechanism to return the soldiers' remains before the traditional Chinese Tomb-Sweeping Day every year.
– The last of the Chinese soldiers who helped North Korea avoid defeat in the Korean War six decades ago have finally gone home. South Korea today repatriated the remains of 437 soldiers from China who have been in the so-called "enemy cemetery" near the city of Paju all these years, reports the Xinhua News Agency. The gesture, marked by an official handover ceremony, is a sign of warming ties between the two nations, reports AP. The move doesn't mean that the "enemy cemetery" is empty, however. The New York Times reports that the remains of 770 North Korean soldiers are still buried there, and Pyongyang refuses to negotiate for their return. Doing so "would be seen as a gesture of closing the war, which North Korea insists will not be over until Washington signs a peace treaty with it," writes Choe Sang-Hun.