DNA Testing to Be Conducted on North Korean Resident's Body Refused for Acceptance

Purpose of Confirming North Korean Family Relations in the Future

On the 23rd of last month, the area around Gaepung County, Hwanghae Province, North Korea, can be seen across the frozen Imjin River estuary from Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. [Image source=Yonhap News]

In the future, if North Korea does not claim the bodies of North Korean residents found in our waters, genetic testing will be conducted to store information. This is to verify relationships with family members in North Korea at a later time.

The Ministry of Unification announced on the 5th that it plans to revise the "Guidelines for Handling Bodies of North Korean Residents" with this content.

According to the Ministry of Unification, until now, when bodies of North Korean residents drifted into our waters due to summer floods and other causes, our government recovered the bodies and handed them over to North Korea. However, recently, cases where North Korea refuses to claim the bodies have frequently occurred.

Since 2019, a total of six bodies of North Korean residents have drifted down, but only two of these were claimed by North Korea. Bodies that were not claimed have been cremated without relatives in cooperation with the relevant local governments according to related regulations.

In particular, regarding bodies of North Korean residents that appeared after the inter-Korean communication lines were cut off on April 7 last year, North Korea has consistently remained unresponsive despite notifications from our side through the media.

Accordingly, the government has decided to revise the relevant guidelines to allow genetic testing before cremation for bodies not claimed by North Korea.

The Ministry of Unification explained, "This system improvement is a measure to expand genetic testing for separated families from the perspectives of humanitarianism, fraternity among compatriots, and human rights," adding, "It aims to enable verification of relationships with family members in North Korea even in the future." The Ministry of Unification has been conducting genetic testing projects for separated families since 2014.

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