Seoul to dispose of body likely from North if it doesn't respond

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Seoul to dispose of body likely from North if it doesn't respond

Published: 12 Jun. 2023, 13:31 Updated: 12 Jun. 2023, 14:12

Koo Byoung-sam, the Unification Ministry spokesperson, addresses the issue regarding the funeral of a man who is believed to have been a North Korean defector at a press briefing held at the government complex in Seoul on Monday. [YONHAP]

The government said it will proceed to hold a funeral for a man whose body drifted across the border in May if North Korea does not claim the body by Friday.

The Unification Ministry said Monday it had sent a message to the North Korean authorities on Friday to return the body of an unidentified person who is believed to be a North Korean resident.

According to the government, the man's body was found off the coast of Gangwha Island on May 27.

He was found wearing a short and strapped to a plastic foam.

"We have asked North Korea to respond whether it wishes to take the body by June 16," Koo Byoung-sam, the ministry spokesperson, said.

The government said it plans to dispose of the body if the North does not respond.

The South Korean government cremated a body that was believed to be of a North Korean resident in November, according to the standard procedure, after North Korea did not respond to communications regarding the body.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]