A North Korean defector in China will likely come to Seoul as early as next week with the remains of her father, who is believed to be a former South Korean prisoner of war.

A Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday that the 48-year-old woman is currently at a safe place under the custody of the South Korean government.

The official said the woman escaped from the North in April 2002, as her father, who died in 1997, requested in his will that he be buried in his homeland in South Korea.

Seoul will likely conduct a DNA test to confirm the identity of the woman