The unification ministry says that it will deliver to North Korea a request from the bereaved family of a fisheries ministry official killed by the North Korean military near the western sea border in 2020. 

A senior ministry official relayed the message in a meeting with reporters on Tuesday, saying that delivering the family's request to visit the site would not be easy given that inter-Korean dialogue has been severed, but ensured that the requests from the family would be delivered in an appropriate manner. 

The official speculated that a thorough fact-finding investigation is a priority for all South Koreans, adding the ministry would first try establishing the facts based on internal documents and could seek cooperation from Pyongyang if necessary. 

The case resurfaced earlier this month when the Korean Coast Guard apologized for its previous statement that the fisheries official attempted to defect to North Korea before being killed by the North’s soldiers in September 2020, saying there was no evidence proving its earlier assertion.

The ruling People Power Party(PPP) on Tuesday launched a task force to investigate the case, accusing the former Moon Jae-in administration of promoting the claim that the official had tried to defect to the North without evidence in an attempt to limit the negative impact on inter-Korean relations.