North Korea has remained silent amid South Korea’s requests to repatriate the remains of a North Korean man who was found dead, drifting in southern waters, Seoul’s unification ministry revealed Tuesday.

The ministry said there had been no response from North Korea by the 3 p.m. deadline that it had set to deliver the body at Panmunjom.

In accordance with domestic procedures for such cases, the local government is expected to hold a respectful funeral and proceed with cremation.

Genetic testing may be necessary to confirm any familial ties in the future.

The body was found June 21 off the coast of Seongmo Island in Ganghwa County, Incheon, with North Korean identification.

In response, the unification ministry attempted to contact Pyongyang through an inter-Korean communication line to inform it of its plan to repatriate the body at 3 p.m. on August 5 at Panmunjom, but the calls went unanswered. 

The bodies of 29 North Koreans have been discovered by the South since 2010, and six of them were not retrieved by the North.