DNA tests for CPV remains returned to China

DNA will be collected from the remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, official sources have said.

The remains of 437 Chinese People's Volunteer (CPV) soldiers were brought from the Republic of Korea (ROK) to China last week to rest in a "martyrs' park" in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province.

A database will identify the dead and DNA tests will be available on request from relatives of the soldiers, said an unidentified official with the veterans bureau of the Civil Affairs Ministry Saturday.

China has been working with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to protect (CPV) memorials in the DPRK. Renovation of CPV cemeteries in the DPRK will begin this year.

More than 2 million CPV soldiers fought alongside the DPRK army in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. Some 180,000 of them were believed killed, with most buried in the DPRK or ROK.

Last year on a trip to China, ROK President Park Geun-hye offered to return the remains of 437 CPV soldiers to China. The two sides had an initial consultation in Seoul and reached agreement on the transfer in December of last year and excavation commenced. In Beijing in January, the protocol for the return of the remains was agreed and a transfer ceremony was held on March 28 at Incheon International Airport, when the coffins and belongings of the fallen were passed to a Chinese delegation.

The remains were previously buried at a cemetery in the ROK border city of Paju and most have not been identified. This is the first move in long-term cooperation on return of CPV remains from the ROK.

According to agreements between China and the DPRK, the bodies of soldiers killed and buried in the DPRK, including Mao Anying, son of Mao Zedong, will not be returned to China.

China has 25,000 domestic war memorials and others in 20 countries. More efforts will be devoted to protecting these war memorials, the official said.