Authorities will consider whether to request the extradition of a North Korean man who re-defected to the North while being investigated in the South for sexual assault.

At a regular briefing on Wednesday, unification ministry spokesperson Yoh Sang-key said the government would decide on the matter after comprehensively taking into account the results of the full investigation, the state of inter-Korean relations and precedence.

Some are calling on Seoul to demand the North turn over the individual, citing how South Korea had sent back two North Korean fishermen who crossed into South Korea after murdering their crew mates last November.

Regarding calls to transfer defector-related duties from the unification ministry to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety or another body, Yoh said the ministry would formulate an opinion after comprehensively reviewing the matter.

The spokesperson also said the ministry believes that North Korea officially still has no COVID-19 patients, as it refers to the returned defector as a "suspected case" rather than a "confirmed case."