Overview

• Seoul’s Unification Ministry gave Pyongyang until 3 p.m. Tuesday to accept the remains via the DMZ’s Panmunjom channel but received no response
• The body, discovered on Seongmodo Island in late June with personal effects, will be classified as unclaimed and cremated under provincial guidance
• Since 2010 South Korean authorities have recovered 29 presumed North Korean bodies washing ashore, yet Pyongyang last retrieved remains in 2019 and has left six unclaimed
• The inter-Korean hotline at Panmunjom has sat idle since April 2023, forcing Seoul to use public appeals to pursue humanitarian repatriation
• Kim Yo Jong’s public declaration of “no interest” highlights North Korea’s ongoing rebuff of President Lee Jae Myung’s outreach efforts