Attempts to hold inter-Korean talks on the return of 31 North Koreans who crossed the inter-Korean maritime border in a wooden fishing boat last month have virtually collapsed.

The government on Tuesday again rejected a North Korean request to return all 31 of the North Koreans, including the four who have expressed wishes to stay in the South.

The North sent a letter via a liaison officer in Panmunjeom at around 9 p.m. Tuesday making the request. In the letter, the North reiterated its call for the South to bring the four North Koreans to the office of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) at the truce village and to engage in South-North Red Cross talks.

The letter said that if the South continues to turn down the North’s efforts to confirm whether the four North Koreans indeed wish to stay in the South, Pyongyang would conclude that the four were coerced to stay. The communist state then vowed to pursue stern measures.