S. Korea Offers To Send Body Of Alleged North Korean To Pyongyang - Unification Ministry

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th June, 2023) Seoul has offered to return the body of a suspected North Korean found in the Yellow Sea in May to Pyongyang, South Korea's unification ministry said Friday.

The body of a man in his 20s or 30s was found on May 19 near Ganghwado Island in the Yellow Sea. An examination of his belongings, which reportedly included narcotics, indicated that he was from North Korea. The man may have drowned while crossing the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea.

"The government plans to send the body and his belongings through the border village of Panmunjom at 3 p.m. (06:00 GMT) on June 16 on humanitarian grounds," the ministry's deputy spokeswoman Lee Hyo-jung was quoted as saying by South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Lee urged Pyongyang to immediately communicate its position on the issue through the inter-Korean communication channel, which has been inactive since April, when North Korea cut its links with Seoul.

The maritime border between South and North Korea has long been a disputed issue for them. In 1996, the United States unilaterally drew the 42-nautical-mile NLL across the East Sea to demarcate the boundary. North Korea does not recognize the legitimacy of the line.

Since 2010, Seoul has sent the bodies of 23 North Koreans found in the South to Pyongyang, most recently in November 2019. In July, Seoul offered to return the body of an alleged North Korean woman, but Pyongyang ignored the proposal.