Pyongyang ignores Seoul’s offer to return body of dead North Korean

South Korea’s offer to return the body of a North Korean national through Panmunjom went unanswered by Pyongyang on August 5, dashing hopes of using the humanitarian issue as a springboard for renewed inter-Korean dialogue.

The Ministry of Unification said the North had failed to respond by the 3 p.m. deadline to the public proposal to repatriate the body of a man that had been found in the South.

“There was no response from North Korea by the deadline,” a ministry official said. “In accordance with government guidelines, the local government will proceed with cremation and a respectful burial following the standard procedure for unclaimed bodies.”

As of August 5 morning, the ministry had said it was fully prepared to return the body within the day if Pyongyang agreed. But by the afternoon, no communication had been received.

North Korea has not accepted a repatriation of remains since taking back one body in November 2019. In 2022 and 2023, it declined to retrieve one and two bodies, respectively. In such cases, South Korean authorities cremate remains and scatter ashes after a set period.

The Unification Ministry first issued the repatriation offer on August 1 through the media because official inter-Korean communication lines remain severed. The ministry said it was willing to return the remains and personal belongings at 3 p.m. on August 5 via the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom.

The ministry also disclosed the identity of the deceased based on a temporary ID card found on the body. The man was identified as Ko Seong-cheol, a farmworker from Geumcheon County, North Hwanghae Province, who was born on Oct. 20, 1988. His belongings included military-issued winter clothing and badges.

Despite the detailed proposal and humanitarian framing of the offer, North Korea remained silent through both inter-Korean and United Nations Command channels as of August 5.

Observers say the government’s reference to “inter-Korean communication lines” in the proposal was a calculated move to reignite dialogue through a humanitarian lens. But Pyongyang’s lack of response effectively closed the door on that effort.

North Korea has severed all official communication with the South, including the inter-Korean liaison office and military hotlines, since April 2023.

On July 9, the South returned six North Koreans who had drifted across maritime boundaries by sending them back over the eastern Northern Limit Line (NLL) aboard their wooden boat.

Although the South notified Pyongyang of the time and location via the UN Command’s “pink phone,” North Korea offered no official response. A tugboat believed to be from the North appeared at the NLL, and the North Koreans returned on their own.

The Lee Jae Myung administration has signaled willingness to revive inter-Korean exchanges, including lifting restrictions on civilian contact with the North. But experts warn that without a fundamental change to Pyongyang’s stance, engagement efforts will remain limited.

Many within the government had already anticipated that the North would ignore the repatriation proposal, citing its continued hard-line policy.

On July 31, Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Workers’ Party of Korea, released a statement titled “The DPRK-ROK relations have gone completely beyond the time zone of the concept of homogenous” through the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

“We did not care who is elected president or what policy is being pursued in the ROK and, therefore, have not made any assessment of it so far,” said the statement.

BY LEE YU-JUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]