A body believed to belong to a missing passenger aboard a helicopter that went down in the East Sea near Dokdo late last month has been found in waters near the rocky islets.
Officials from a pan-government disaster management team said on Tuesday that the Coast Guard found a body clad in a firefighter uniform at around 11:56 a.m., some three kilometers from where the chopper's fuselage was found.
Families of the missing passengers were immediately notified and authorities plan to soon identify the body through DNA matching.
The ill-fated chopper, carrying seven passengers, took off from Dokdo at around 11:26 p.m. on October 31 before falling into the sea some 200 to 300 meters from the islets shortly after.
Search and rescue officials have so far found and identified three of the victims.
The response team plans to deploy three large Navy vessels and a Coast Guard vessel on Tuesday to continue search efforts in unfavorable weather conditions.
The team has also decided to request cooperation from the Japanese Coast Guard.