 |
| ▲ This file photo, taken Aug. 28, 2023, shows Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson at South Korea's unification ministry, speaking at a regular press briefing at the government complex building in Seoul. (Yonhap) |
S Korea-deceased N Korean
S. Korea offers to return remains of presumed N. Korean man found dead on western island
SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification ministry said Thursday it has discovered the body of a presumed North Korean man found dead on the country's western island earlier this month and wishes to return it to the North.
The remains of the unidentified person were discovered at a beach of Seongmo Island in the Yellow Sea on Sept. 10, according to the ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs. Authorities determined the man was a North Korean after reviewing his belongings.
"We offer to return the body and his belongings at 3 p.m. on Sept. 26 via the border village of Panmunjom on humanitarian and compatriotic fraternity grounds," Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson at the ministry, said.
Koo called on North Korea to respond swiftly on whether it will accept the body through the now-suspended inter-Korean liaison communication channel.
The ministry was not able to contact Pyongyang, as the secretive regime has remained unresponsive to daily routine calls with South Korea through the liaison communication channel since early April.
The belongings include a badge showing the portraits of North Korea's late founder, Kim Il-sung, and former leader Kim Jong-il, and an unspecified memo, the ministry added.
In November last year and in June, the ministry proposed to return the bodies of two presumed North Koreans separately found in the South. But the South cremated the bodies, as the North did not respond to the South's offer.
Since 2010, the ministry has sent back a total of 23 bodies of North Koreans who were found in the South, most recently in November 2019.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
