The badly decomposed body of a young child found off the coast of Jumundo Island in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, last month is believed to be likely that of a North Korean resident.
The Incheon Coast Guard announced that it received an opinion from the National Forensic Service confirming the presence of a parasite in the body that is rarely found in South Korea.
To identify the deceased, the coast guard checked missing persons profiling systems, but found no matches with domestic missing persons records, according to authorities.
Based on these findings, the coast guard views it as highly probable that the body belongs to a North Korean resident.
Previously, on the 25th of last month, a 112 emergency report was filed stating that an unidentified body was floating in the waters near Jumundo Island in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon.
The coast guard retrieved the body and focused on identifying the person, but faced difficulties due to advanced decomposition.
At the time of discovery, the height was estimated to be between 110 cm and 120 cm, and the National Forensic Service estimated the child to be a boy around 6 years of age.
The coast guard plans to close the case, concluding that there are no suspicions of foul play.
In recent times, there has been an increasing number of cases in the waters near Jumundo Island where bodies or wooden box landmines presumed to have drifted from North Korea are discovered.
Between the 23rd of last month and the 10th of this month, 16 drifting landmines presumed to have come from North Korea were also discovered along the coastlines near the armistice line in Ganghwa-gun, including Jumundo Island.
Reported by Park Se-won | Video by Lee Da-in | Graphics by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News
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