A transfer ceremony was held Thursday morning at the Incheon International Airport, west of the Republic of Korea (ROK) capital Seoul, to hand over the remains of Chinese soldiers who were killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.

The plane carrying the remains and related relics is scheduled to land in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, later in the morning. 

The remains of 109 Chinese soldiers and 1,226 related relics were excavated from six regions in the ROK between 2019 and 2020, according to the ROK defense ministry.

In 2014, the ROK agreed with China to repatriate the remains of fallen Chinese soldiers according to international law and humanitarian spirit, the ministry said.

From 2014 to 2020, the ROK returned the remains of 716 Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs killed in the Korean War, including 437 in 2014, 68 in 2015, 36 in 2016, 28 in 2017, 20 in 2018, 10 in 2019 and 117 in 2020. 

The CPV fought with the People's Army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the Korean War against the ROK army and U.S.-led UN forces.  

Almost 200,000 CPV soldiers were confirmed killed in the war, with most buried on the Korean Peninsula.