North Korea has not responded to requests for communication regarding a dead body the South has identified as being of North Korean origin. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 26 (UPI) -- South Korea said a body believed to be of North Korean origin was found in the Imjin River but Pyongyang did not claim the corpse.

Seoul's unification ministry said Monday the body was discovered in the border river on July 31, near the South Korean town of Paju, Newsis reported.


South Korean authorities notified the North but did not receive a response.

"On Aug. 14 we contacted the North at the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong regarding the body believed to be that of a North Korean resident, found at Gangsang, Imjin River, Paju, Gyeonggi Province," the unification ministry said Monday.

"North Korea has not responded to date."

The South has not heard from the North Koreans despite requests for communication, according to Seoul Pyongyang News.

North Korea's lack of response prompted South Korea to move ahead with "internal procedures" last Wednesday. The body is to be buried in a public cemetery in Paju, with no claimants present. Last week the South notified the North of the decision one more time, but was again met with no response, the report states.

North Korea typically responds two to four days to South Korean requests for communication, but no response followed on the issue of the body, the unification ministry said.

The corpse was discovered at a time of increased weapons tests. In July and August Pyongyang engaged in seven rounds of missile tests, where Kim Jong Un was present to guide the exercises.

South Korean authorities found the body in the Imjin River the same day the military found a North Korean soldier floating down the river at night.

The soldier reportedly surrendered and asked for asylum after a thermal observation device at the military demarcation line first tracked him.

The defection marked the first time in eight months a North Korean national crossed the militarized border to escape to the South.