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northAccording to the South Korean military, Ordkorea shot and burned a South Korean ministerial official on the border between the two countries. The General Staff in Seoul relies on intelligence information. The reason for the act is unknown. The South Korean military suspects that North Korea killed the man out of fear of the coronavirus. If the case is confirmed, it would be the first time since 2008 that North Korea has shot and killed a South Korean civilian on its territory.
Patrick Welter
Japan political and business correspondent based in Tokyo.
South Korea condemned the act in the strongest terms. President Moon Jae-in spoke of a shocking incident that should under no circumstances be tolerated. He urged North Korea to respond responsibly. The South Korean army spoke of a cruel act and called for the culprits to be punished. However, South Korea’s official response to the incident is complex. A representative from the presidential office said the incident did not violate specific agreements between the two Korean states in their 2018 military agreement. However, the incident went against the spirit of the agreement, he said. North Korea did not comment on Wednesday’s incident.
The 47-year-old employee of the South Korean Ministry of Fisheries disappeared from a patrol boat near Yeongpyeong Island on the west side of Korea on Monday morning. Only his shoes were found on the ship. According to information from South Korea, the man is said to have tried to flee north. It is said that he complained to his colleagues about his high debts. On Tuesday afternoon, a North Korean ship discovered the man north of the border line, about 38 kilometers from the place of his disappearance. The man was wearing a life jacket and clinging to the rubble. According to the South Korean military, the North Koreans, who were wearing protective gas masks, spoke to the man who was still in the water. In the early afternoon, the man is said to have been shot from a North Korean patrol boat and then burned with gasoline. South Korean military officials said it was not known which higher authority had given the order.
North Korea says it is not infected with the corona virus, which observers in South Korea doubt due to the long border with China and Russia. The Pyongyang regime is taking rigorous measures to prevent the virus from entering. The ruler Kim Jong-un has ordered a tightening of border protection. Members of a North Korean task force had been ordered to fire on potential smugglers from China to prevent the introduction of the virus, the commander of US troops stationed in South Korea, Robert Abrams, said this month. It is not clear if that order to fire was also given in the south.
North Korea’s concern about the southern corona viruses is great. In July, a North Korean refugee who had lived in South Korea for three years returned north through the closely guarded internal Korean border. North Korea stated that the man had symptoms of coronavirus infection. Then the North Korean regime sealed off the city of Kaesong near the border.
In 2008, North Korean soldiers shot and killed a South Korean woman vacationing at a resort in the Kumgang Mountains in southeastern North Korea operated jointly by North and South Korea. Apparently, the woman had entered a restricted area in North Korea while walking. The incident caused a drastic deterioration in inter-Korean relations.
Even now, death at the border comes at a critical time. In South Korea, mistrust is likely in the North Korean regime. As a signal to Seoul, North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong paid for by South Korea in June and then broke contacts and lines of communication with the south. All attempts by South Korean President Moon to resume the talks so far have failed. In a digitally broadcast speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Moon called on the two Korean states to sign a declaration to end the war.
