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South Korea returns 117 sets of remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War during a ceremony at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020.

South Korea returns 117 sets of remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War during a ceremony at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020. (South Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

South Korea returns 117 sets of remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War during a ceremony at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020.

South Korea returns 117 sets of remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War during a ceremony at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020. (South Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

South Korea returned 117 sets of remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War during a ceremony at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020.

South Korea returned 117 sets of remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War during a ceremony at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020. (South Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

South Korea returned 117 sets of remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War during a ceremony at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020.

South Korea returned 117 sets of remains of Chinese soldiers killed in the Korean War during a ceremony at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020. (South Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea sent home the remains of 117 Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, with a ceremony on Sunday attended by Chinese and United Nations Command officials.

It was the seventh such repatriation ceremony since China and South Korea agreed on the return of Chinese remains in 2014. In all, 716 sets of remains have been returned, the foreign ministry said.

Communist Chinese forces fought on behalf of North Korea against the U.S.-backed South in the war, which ended in an armistice after the sides failed to agree on a peace treaty.

The ministry said 103 sets of remains returned Sunday were excavated last year from Arrowhead Ridge, a former battleground inside the Demilitarized Zone, a buffer zone that divides the peninsula. Others were found elsewhere in South Korea.

“Our government will continue to repatriate the remains of Chinese troops that will be found in the future, and make efforts for the development of future-oriented relations between Beijing and Seoul,” the foreign ministry said.

The ceremony was held at Incheon International Airport near Seoul.

More than 7,500 American troops also remain missing from the war, most believed to have been lost in North Korea.

news@stripes.com

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