North Korea Finally Refuses to Hand Over Body with 'Kim Il-sung Emblem'... Ministry of Unification Plans Cremation

No Response to the Intention to Deliver the Corpse for Two Weeks Starting from the 11th

Lee Hyo-jung, Deputy Spokesperson of the Ministry of Unification [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] The Ministry of Unification announced that North Korean authorities ultimately did not respond to the proposal to hand over a corpse presumed to be a North Korean resident, and according to related guidelines, the body will be cremated as an unclaimed deceased. It is unusual that they refused repatriation despite the discovery of a badge bearing Chairman Kim Il-sung's emblem on the corpse.

Lee Hyo-jung, deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of Unification, said at a regular briefing on the 25th, "The Ministry of Unification expressed its intention to hand over the corpse to the North on the 11th, and waited an additional week due to no response from the North," adding, "The North has not expressed any intention regarding the acceptance of the corpse to date."

The Ministry of Unification plans to cremate and inter the corpse as an unclaimed deceased after consultation with the relevant local government in accordance with the 'Guidelines for Handling Corpses of North Korean Residents.'

Earlier, on the morning of the 11th, the government attempted to send a notification to the North through the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office, stating the intention to hand over the corpse presumed to be a North Korean resident. The corpse, found in July this year at the Gunam Dam on the Imjin River in Yeoncheon-gun, Gyeonggi Province, was severely decomposed, but was presumed to be a North Korean resident as it wore a badge featuring portraits of North Korean Chairman Kim Il-sung and National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il on the upper garment.

North Korea typically recognizes a corpse as a North Korean resident and accepts its handover when a badge bearing the portraits of the Kim Il-sung family or a North Korean-style resident registration card called a Gongminjeung is found on the body. However, it is unusual that they broke this precedent and refused to repatriate the corpse.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Unification, since 2010, 23 corpses presumed to be North Korean residents have been handed over to the North. The North generally accepted South Korea's proposals for corpse handover, but three corpses?two in 2017 and one in 2019?were not handed over due to North Korea's non-response. The last time the South handed over a corpse to the North was one found in the West Sea in November 2019.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.