SEOUL—Attempts by the new government of South Korea to improve relations with its neighbor hit a snag Tuesday, after Pyongyang failed to respond to a deadline to claim the body of a North Korean farmworker.

Pyongyang did not respond to Seoul's plan to repatriate the remains of a North Korean national discovered on the southern side of the inter-Korean border.

South Korea's proposal to return a North Korean body was ignored by Pyongyang, hindering hopes for renewed inter-Korean dialogue.

South Korea's military began removing loudspeakers that have been used to blast anti-Pyongyang messages across the border, Seoul's Defense Ministry said Monday.

The speakers had previously been used to blast anti-North Korean propaganda, but the new liberal government in South Korea halts the broadcasts as it looks revive dialogue with Pyongyang.

Relations between the two Koreas were at an all time low in years under South Korea’s former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached over his martial law declaration last December, as the two sides engaged in tit-for-tat psychological warfare campaigns.