Three Chinese Korean War veterans who fought against South Korea as allied troops of North Korea visited a cemetery containing their fallen comrades in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday.

Chen Ruo Bi, Lian Deng Gao and Lai Xuex Ian were invited to South Korea by the provincial government through the Seoul-based Korea-China Cultural Association.

It was the first time since the armistice 60 years ago that Chinese Korean War veterans had visited the graves of their compatriots in South Korea.

“We held an event to be the first to reach out to China, which made South Korean troops retreat during the war,” an official of the provincial office said. “Their visit reflects our wish to lay a bridgehead for the Korean reunification and a better future through reconciliation and friendship between the two countries.”

After visiting the gravesite, the three veterans in their 80s and their family members went to the Unification Observatory on nearby Odusan Mountain and viewed North Korea.

They will tour the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul, on Wednesday and also attend Korean cultural activities before returning home on Thursday.

Created under the Geneva Convention, the 6,000-square-meter cemetery in Paju has the graves of 362 Chinese and 718 North Korean soldiers.

The cemetery was rennovated late last year, as the number of Chinese tourists to Korea surged, and is currently managed by the 25th division of the Korean Army.

The cemetery recently received attention when President Park Geun-hye said on her state visit to China that Korea would seek to resume repatriating the remains of Chinese soldiers.

South Korea returned the remains of 43 Chinese soldiers from the 1980s to 1997 through the military armistice commission, but North Korea refused to accept them through its territory, stopping the repatriation of Chinese remains.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)