The government says it made several attempts to return to North Korea the remains of North Koreans who were forced to work for Japan during World War Two.

The Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under Japanese Imperialism said Saturday that it has contacted the North several times since 2008 to discuss the repatriation of the remains of 19 North Koreans. The remains were included among remains that were sent to the South in the 1970s from Japan.

The commission said it proposed to the North that the two Koreas hold a joint memorial service following the repatriation of the remains. However, the commission said the North replied that it would respond to the proposal in line with developments in inter-Korean relations.

The remains of some eleven-hundred Korean forced laborers that had been stored at Yutenji Buddhist temple in Tokyo were returned to the South in 1971 and 1974.

The remains of the North Koreans were stored at a memorial facility in Busan for 35 years before they were moved to the National Mang-Hyang Cemetery in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, last November.