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North Korean leader Kim jong un offered exceptional apologies on Friday after the “Unexpected and shameful” killing of a South Korean at seathe Seoul government said, a way to appease the outrage of its southern neighbor.
North Korea’s apologies, especially Kim, are highly unusual and come in the context of stagnant inter-Korean relations, as do the negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington.
The North Korean leader said he “deeply regrets” this “unforeseen and shameful matter,” and apologized “for disappointing President Moon Jae-in and the South Koreans,” the Seoul presidential office said.
Suh Hoon, South Korea’s national security adviser, read a letter from the North’s ruling party department in charge of relations with its southern neighbor.
In that letter, Pyongyang admitted that He shot the man who “illegally entered our waters” a dozen times and refused to correctly declare his identity.
Border guards shot him as ordered, according to the letter.
Pyongyang had not confirmed the contents of the letter on Friday afternoon, and North Korean official media did not mention the event.
According to experts, Pyongyang is trying to use this message to appease its southern neighbor where the murder, the first of the North Korean army in ten years, has caused outrage.
The official, who worked for the fishing industry, was shot dead by North Korean soldiers on Tuesday.
His body, which was left in the water, was later burned for fear of coronavirus contamination.
According to Ahn Chan-il, a Seoul-based defector-turned-investigator, it is “extremely rare for the supreme commander of the North to apologize, especially to the South Koreans and their president.”
“I think this is the first time since 1976”he said, when the “ax murder incident” took place, the death of two US soldiers killed by North Korean soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said Kim’s alleged apology “reduces the risk of an escalation between the two Koreas and keeps Moon’s hopes of reconciliation.”
It is a “diplomatic gesture” that “avoids a possible short-term conflict and preserves the possibility of obtaining long-term benefits from Seoul,” he estimated.
Act “abominable”
The murder sparked anger in South Korea. The president, who has always advocated for better relations with Pyongyang, called it “shocking” and intolerable.
In an editorial on Friday, the South Korean daily Joong Ang said it was “furious at this abominable act by the North.” “The murder of an unarmed man and the burning of his body cannot be forgiven in any way,” according to the text.
The official – who was wearing a life jacket – disappeared from the patrol boat that was sailing Monday near the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, located a few kilometers from the maritime border with the North.
North Korean authorities located him 24 hours later.
According to the South Korean media, the man, in his 40s and father of two, had recently divorced and was in financial trouble.
On Thursday, the South Korean military said that he was interrogated for several hours while in the water and reportedly expressed his desire to defect, before being killed “on the orders of a higher authority.”
So far, North Korea, which closed its borders at the end of January, claims that it has not registered any cases of the new coronavirus in its territory.
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