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North Korea has expressed regret that it gunned down a missing South Korean to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the South’s national security adviser said on Friday, amid growing political and public backlash.
The North Korean United Front department, in charge of cross-border ties, sent a letter to the office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, a day after Seoul officials said North Korean soldiers killed a South Korean before dousing his body in oil and setting it on fire. .
The rare message came as Moon faced intense political fallout from the incident, which coincided with a renewed policy push to engage Pyongyang.
The letter quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as saying he “regretted” that the incident disappointed the South Korean public and should not have happened, Moon’s security adviser Suh Hoon said.
Soldiers fired more than 10 shots at the man, a South Korean fisheries official who disappeared this week, after he did not reveal his identity and tried to flee, Suh said, citing the letter.
But the letter said they burned a flotation device that he was using, according to his antivirus manuals, and not his body.
“Troops were unable to locate the unidentified intruder during a search after firing and burning the device under the national emergency disease prevention measures,” Suh said at a briefing, referring to the letter.
The shooting shocked many South Koreans and sparked fierce reaction from opposition lawmakers, prompting Moon to issue an unusually strict response calling it “unforgivable.”
In 2008, North Korean troops shot dead a South Korean tourist who entered a forbidden area while staying at a North Korean resort, causing the disruption of inter-Korean tourism projects. Moon has vowed to reopen tourism programs.
The military announced the death of the fisheries official a day after Moon proposed a new regional health and disease control initiative that included North Korea to tackle crises such as the coronavirus and strained ties with Pyongyang.
Moon and Kim have recently exchanged letters to share hopes of rebuilding relations after addressing the coronavirus, Suh said. – Reuters
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