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Seoul says it will call for a joint investigation into the murder that prompted a rare apology from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
South Korea said on Saturday that it will request North Korea to further investigate the fatal shooting of a South Korean government official who disappeared near the tense maritime border between the two countries last week.
After a meeting of the National Security Council, South Korea’s presidential office said it would call for a joint investigation into the case with North Korea if necessary, and said there were discrepancies in the accounts of the incident from both sides.
The fisheries official was shot by North Korean troops on Tuesday, in a killing that sparked outrage in the south and prompted a rare apology from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Kim was quoted as saying he was “very sorry” for what he described as an “unexpected and unfortunate incident” in a message sent by Pyongyang’s United Front Department, a North Korean government agency in charge of inter-Korean relations.
South Korea’s military said on Thursday that North Korean soldiers killed the man, doused his body with fuel and set him on fire near the maritime border. But the North Korean government said its soldiers fired at the “illegal intruder” and denied burning his body. Pyongyang’s message largely passed the blame for the shooting to the South Korean official, claiming that he refused to answer questions and tried to flee before North Korean troops fired at him.
“We have decided to request the North to carry out an additional investigation and also to request a joint investigation with the North if necessary,” the Blue House said in a statement Saturday. He said the South will also “quickly take steps to further strengthen the surveillance posture” in the waters off the west coast of the country to avoid similar incidents.
This photo taken on April 24, 2018 shows a general view of unidentified fishing boats off the coast of North Korea from a vantage point on the South Korean-controlled island of Yeonpyeong, near the disputed waters of the Sea Yellow at sunrise. [File: Ed Jones/ AFP]
The South Korean coast guard was deploying dozens of boats and hundreds of officers to search the waters near the western sea border on Saturday for the official’s remains. Northern state media has yet to report on the incident or Kim’s apology.
The main opposition People’s Power Party said on Saturday that Kim’s apology was not genuine and that the case should be sent to the International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council.
The government of South Korean President Moon Jae-in faces intense political pressure over how it responded to the incident, which coincided with a renewed push from the president to engage with Pyongyang.
Critics accused Moon of failing to save a citizen’s life and being soft on North Korea, saying the military made no attempt to save him despite seeing him six hours before he was shot dead.
The government official was reported missing while on duty on a fishing boat near Yeonpyeong Island, near the South Korean maritime border.
The South Korean military said the man was apparently trying to defect to the North, but his brother refuted the claims, saying he must have had an accident.
Kim’s apology in the case was rare, according to analysts.
“While there will be much talk about whether the North’s apology heralds an improvement in inter-Korean relations, more positive action will be needed by Pyongyang,” Bruce Klingner, principal investigator at the US-based Heritage Foundation, told Yonhap News. from South Korea. agency.
North Korea has previously expressed “regrets” when it wanted to reduce tensions sparked by incidents with South Korean casualties, such as the 2015 front-line mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers and the shooting death of a South Korean tourist in 2008. But it is rare for a North Korean leader to do so.
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