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North Korean soldiers shot dead a suspected South Korean defector after questioning him at sea, then poured oil on his body and burned him for fear of the coronavirus, Seoul military officials said on Thursday.
The man had disappeared from a patrol boat near the western border island of Yeonpyeong, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement.
He was wearing a life jacket, a military man told AFP, adding that “circumstances tell us that there was an intention to defect”, without providing evidence.
According to the Yonhap South News Agency, the man was located by North Korean forces and an official wearing protective equipment questioned from a boat.
“They shot him dead in the water,” the military official told AFP. “The North Korean soldiers poured oil on his body and burned him in the water.”
The burning appears to have been intended as a precaution against the coronavirus, in response to which Pyongyang closed its borders and declared an emergency.
“We evaluate that it was carried out under the North’s anti-coronavirus measure,” the military official told AFP.
The killing took place after an “order from a higher authority,” Yonhap said, citing South Korean officials.
The Seoul Defense Ministry condemned the shooting as a “scandalous act”.
“We strongly advise North Korea that all responsibilities for this incident rest with him,” he said.
In July, a North Korean defector who had fled south three years ago slipped across the heavily fortified border into the impoverished nation.
Their crossing prompted North Korean officials to close the border city of Kaesong amid fears that it may have carried the coronavirus.
The commander of the United States Forces in Korea, Robert Abrams, said earlier this month that North Korean authorities had issued shoot-to-kill orders to prevent the coronavirus from entering the country from China, creating a “buffer zone” in border.
The isolated North, whose health system in shambles would struggle to cope with a major virus outbreak, has not confirmed a single case of the disease that has plagued the world since it first emerged in China, the country’s key ally. North.
Pyongyang closed its border with China in January to try to prevent contamination, and in July state media said it had raised its state of emergency to the highest level.
kjk / slb / jah / axn
