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Seoul (AFP)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un apologized on Friday for the killing of a South Korean citizen at sea, describing the incident as “shameful and unexpected,” according to the Seoul presidential office.
The fisheries sector official was shot dead on Tuesday by North Korean soldiers, while Seoul reported that his body was set on fire while at sea, apparently as a precaution for fear of transmitting the Covid-19 infection.
It was the first killing by North Korean forces against a South Korean national in a decade and sparked outrage in South Korea.
Kim apologized for the “disappointment” the accident caused the South Korean people and President Moon Jae-in, rather than helping them deal with the “malicious coronavirus,” according to Seoul’s national security adviser Soh Hoon.
It is extremely rare for North Korea, and indeed Kim personally, to apologize. The message comes in light of the stalemate in inter-Korean relations and the stalled nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
And Suh read a letter from the section responsible for relations with his country in the ruling North Korean Party.
Pyongyang admitted to firing about 10 bullets at the man who “entered our waters illegally” and refused to properly identify himself.
He reported that the border guards shot him in line with the orders applied in this regard.
His body disappeared after the shooting, while soldiers burned the bloody floating device he was using, in accordance with national emergency regulations.
Military officials in Seoul reported that the man was interrogated for several hours while at sea and expressed his desire to defect, but was killed “on the orders of higher authorities.”
The man, wearing a life jacket, disappeared from a patrol boat near Yeonpyeong Island on the western border on Monday, and North Korean forces found him in the northern regional waters after about 24 hours.
South Korean media reports stated that he is 40 years old and has two children, but recently divorced his wife and was suffering financial problems.
Pyongyang closed its borders and declared a state of emergency in a bid to protect itself from the virus that has plagued the world since it appeared in neighboring China late last year.
© 2020 AFP
