South Korea placed the remains of 68 Chinese soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War in coffins Monday before sending them back to their homeland for final burial, Seoul's defense ministry said.
  

South Korea has pledged to repatriate the remains of the Chinese servicemembers and their keepsakes, its second such decision, in a symbolic gesture of friendship toward its former battlefield foe.
  

In March 2014, Seoul returned the remains of 437 Chinese soldiers killed on Korean soil during the war on humanitarian grounds, after President Park Geun-hye made such an offer during a 2013 summit with her Chinese counterpart.
  

After being recovered mostly from border regions of the peninsula, the remains had been temporarily buried in the so-called "enemy cemetery" in Paju, just north of Seoul, where the coffin ritual took place with South Korean defense ministry officers and a Chinese delegation attending.
  

The repatriation ceremony for the flag-draped coffins will be held on Friday at Incheon International Airport, with China to fly them to its northern city of Shenyang for final burial, according to ministry officials.
  

During the Korean War that was started by tank-led North Korean troops, China fought alongside Pyongyang against the U.S.-backed Allied forces. Historical records show that more than 1 million Chinese soldiers were killed in the three-year conflict, which ended in a ceasefire. (Yonhap)