Key Points

The remains of the body believed to be those of a North Korean national were found on the shore of Seongmodo, an island in the Yellow Sea near the border, on June 21, Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson at the unification ministry, said.

The government plans to repatriate the remains to North Korea next Tuesday via the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, Koo said, urging the North to respond through the inter-Korean communication line.

"We plan to transfer the body and his belongings to your side from the humanitarian and fraternal perspectives," the spokesperson said in a direct message toward Pyongyang, issued through the media amid severed inter-Korean communications.

Citing a certificate found on the body, he identified it as that of a man born in 1988, a farm worker from North Korea's North Hwanghae Province. It is currently being kept at a local hospital.

How his body came to be swept into South Korean territory remains unclear, although there have been 29 similar cases in the past, most of which were transferred back to the North via Panmunjom.

Seoul will wait for a response from North Korea until next Tuesday. If no response is received by then, the body will be classified as unclaimed and cremated in the South, according to officials.

The message came as North Korea remains unresponsive to the new Lee Jae Myung administration's overtures to restore inter-Korean communication lines and resume dialogue aimed at easing military tensions and building trust, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Earlier this month, South Korea repatriated six North Korean fishermen across the border in the East Sea after rescuing them on the southern side of the maritime border in March and May.

At that time, North Korea had not responded to Seoul's repeated calls to arrange their return, but eventually sent vessels to the border to receive them without any prior communication.

- IANS