SEOUL, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Pyongyang did not respond to Seoul's plan to repatriate the remains of a North Korean national discovered on the southern side of the inter-Korean border, South Korea's Unification Ministry said Tuesday.
Last week, the ministry announced its plans to transfer the body of the presumed North Korean citizen via the truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ. It urged the North to respond by 3 p.m. Tuesday through an inter-Korean hotline that has not been used since April 2023.
Since the North failed to reply, authorities will proceed "in accordance with guidelines for handling North Korean bodies," the ministry said in a message to reporters.
"The local government will conduct a respectful funeral in accordance with procedures for handling unclaimed bodies," the message said.
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