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South Korea says North Korean troops shot dead a South Korean government official who may have attempted to defect and set his body on fire after they found him on a floating object in waters near the disputed maritime boundary of the rivals.
According to Seoul’s announcement, the man disappeared from a government boat that was checking for possible unauthorized fishing in an area south of the boundary on Monday (local time), a day before he was found in North Korean waters.
North Korea sent officials wearing gas masks aboard a boat near the man to find out why he was there Tuesday afternoon. Later that day, a North Korean Navy ship arrived and opened fire on him, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.
The ship’s sailors, donning gas masks and protective suits, poured gasoline over his body and set it on fire, the Defense Ministry said, citing intelligence gathered by surveillance teams and other assets.
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It was also unclear how it ended up in the north. But a defense official said the man may have tried to defect to North Korea. The official, who requested anonymity citing department rules, said the official was wearing a life jacket on a small floating object and that the military had obtained information that he wanted to go to North Korea.
The official said North Korea may have decided to kill him in accordance with its strict coronavirus rules that involve shooting anyone illegally crossing the border.
North Korea has firmly said that there has not been a single case of the virus on its soil, a claim widely disputed by many foreign experts. Observers say a pandemic could have devastating consequences in North Korea due to its broken public health system and chronic shortages of medical supplies.
South Korea sent a message to North Korea through a communication channel at the US-led UN Command in South Korea on Wednesday to ask about the missing official. But North Korea has not responded, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.
Senior military officer Ahn Young Ho told reporters on Friday that South Korea strongly condemned North Korea’s “heinous act” and urged it to punish those responsible. He said South Korea used various intelligence data to hold North Korea responsible for the man’s death.
Little is known about the 47-year-old, except that he was among 18 officials aboard the government ship belonging to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. When his companions searched for him after his disappearance, they only found his shoes on the boat. The days of searches that involved planes and ships came empty-handed, according to the defense and ocean ministries.
Ahn Young-joon / AP
A government ship sails past the South Korean Navy floating base as the sun rises near Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea.
The poorly marked western sea boundary is where several bloody naval skirmishes and two deadly attacks have occurred attributed to North Korea in recent years. The government ship was near South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island, which was hit by North Korean artillery in 2010, killing four people.
The incident is expected to deepen already strained ties between rivals, whose exchange and cooperation programs have all but been suspended amid a stalemate in broader nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington. In June, North Korea blew up an inter-Korean liaison office on its territory to protest South Korean civilians sending anti-North Korean leaflets across the border.
Conservative experts and politicians in South Korea argued that the government’s explanation that the official might have tried to dismiss lacked evidence. They say the government may want to avoid strong anti-North sentiments in South Korea to keep the chances of talks with North Korea alive.
“A public servant defecting to North Korea? I think it sounds a bit strange as he has stable job security, ”said Choi Kang, vice president of the Asan Institute for Political Studies in Seoul. “Why did North Korea shoot a man who was voluntarily defecting to North Korea? I can also say that the burning of his body was an attempt to hide evidence. “
South Korea’s liberal government headed by President Moon Jae-in has faced criticism from conservatives that it sympathizes too much with North Korea and does not respond strongly enough to North provocation, such as the destruction of the liaison office. and the crude insults.
In 2008, North Korean soldiers shot dead a visiting South Korean tourist wandering through a restricted area. The then conservative government of South Korea responded by suspending visits to North Korea’s scenic Diamond Mountain resort.
The main conservative party of People’s Power urged the Moon government to crack down on it. “The reason for the government’s existence is to protect its people and their property,” a party statement said.
South Korean defections to North Korea are very rare. More than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea in the past 20 years for political and economic reasons.
In July, however, a North Korean defector returned to North Korea, prompting North Korea to impose the closure of a border city and declare a state of emergency over virus concerns.
