After rare apology, North Korea now calls shooting of South Korean official 'self-defense'

Following the incident of North Korea killing a South Korean official who was attempting to defect near the rivals’ disputed sea boundary last month, Pyongyang has said that it was a self-defensive measure, state media reported on October 30. In a rare measure, North Korea had even issued an apology after its troops shot South’s fisheries officials in late September as per South Korea military, the body was then doused in oil and reportedly set it on fire.

However, amid the outrage, Seoul has called for a joint investigation after the North claimed that its troops had only burned the floatation device that the official was using but not his body. North Korea’s official KCNA news agency not only accused South Korea of making the issue controversial but also blamed Seoul for “improper control” of the citizens. Therefore, Pyongyang blamed the “south side” for the entire incident.

KCNA said, “Our soldier could not but take self-defensive measure as he judged that the South Korean citizen who had made an illegal intrusion into the waters ... under the control of our side was about to flee, not responding to interception.”

It further added that the incident was “the result of improper control of the citizen by the south side in the sensitive hotspot at a time when there are tension and danger due to the vicious virus sweeping the whole of South Korea. Therefore, the blame for the incident first rests with the south side.”

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South Korea calls it ‘atrocious act’

As per Associated Press report, the South Korean official condemned the “atrocious act” and have been pressing the North to punish the responsible individuals. South Korean military has reportedly said that the official was likely attempting to defect North when he was reported missing from the fisheries boat near the Northern Limit Line (NLL). 

Senior South Korean military officer Ahn Young Ho had previously told the parliamentary committee in September that Pyongyang killed the man because of North’s intense anti-COVID-19 measures that involve “indiscriminate shooting” at anyone approaching its borders illegally.

However, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has that Pyongyang “cannot help expressing big regrets” over the fact that Seoul used “blasphemous and confrontational words like atrocious act” to denounce North after the incident without asking for the details.

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