Screenshot of the news coverage
BEJING, Nov. 21 -- Based on the consensus reached by China and South Korea, the encoffinment, handover and burial of the remains of the 10th batch of Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs in South Korea will be held from November 22 to 24. South Korea will transfer the remains of 25 CPV martyrs and related items to China, said the Ministry of Veterans Affairs.
DNA identification plays a vital role in confirming the identities of martyrs’ remains and finding their relatives. China established the National Martyrs' Remains DNA Identification Lab in July last year to conduct DNA identification on the remains of martyrs relying on a professional team and advanced technical means. By now it has completed DNA identification for all the 913 CPV martyrs’ remains already returned by South Korea to China and has found relatives for over 10 CPV martyrs.
The laboratory for DNA identification of national martyrs’ remains has integrated multi-disciplinary technologies and independently created a new technological system for DNA identification of war remains, tackling key technical problems such as DNA extraction of remains and complex kinship identification.
"We have promoted the construction of a technical platform for DNA identification and comparison of the remains of national martyrs and the construction of related databases, focusing on collecting DNA information of the CPV martyr remains and their relatives, and the identification and comparison of kinship," said Xi Yufeng, Deputy Director of the Martyrs Memorial Facilities Protection Center under the Ministry of Veteran Affairs.
At present, the center is all set to extract DNA information on the remains of the tenth batch of CPV martyrs, survey their relatives and receive the relics of the martyrs.
"For relics with clear identification information, such as seals, we will strengthen analysis of identification and obtain as much information as possible about the martyrs' identities. For martyrs without such relics, we will conduct comprehensive analysis and assessment based on military history and war history data, and by a variety of technical means to narrow down the range of the martyrs' relatives and elevate the probability of success in remains identification and comparison, striving to confirm the identity of more martyrs and find their relatives," said Xi Yufeng.
The inaugural ceremony of the National Martyrs’ Remains Search Team and the National Martyrs' Remains DNA Identification Lab is held in Beijing on July 20, 2022.
The 9th batch of CPV martyrs remains in South Korea return home on September 16, 2020.