North Korea shot and burned body of missing South Korean official: Seoul

Seoul, on September 24, said that North Korean troops shot and later burned the body of a missing South Korean official, who disappeared off a government ship near the rival’s disputed sea boundary. The South Korean military denounced Pyongyang for the ‘atrocious act’ and urged it to punish the person responsible. Seoul’s statement comes after they found the missing official on a floating object in waters near south of the boundary. 

According to AP, South Korea informed that the man disappeared from a government ship that was checking on potential unauthorised fishing in an area south of the boundary on Monday, a day before he was found in North Korean waters. Lt. Gen. Ahn Young-ho, a top official with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the official, who worked with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, went missing in waters 1.9 kilometres south of the Yeonpyeong island on September 21. 

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South Korea’s Defence Ministry said that Pyongyang sent officials wearing gas masks aboard a boat near the man to learn why he was there. Later the same day, a North Korean navy boat came and opened fire at him. While citing intelligence gathered by surveillance equipment and other assets, the ministry added that the sailors from the boat then poured gasoline on his body and set it aflame. 

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Rising tensions between N Korea-Seoul 

While details, including how the 47-year-old South Korean official ended up in the water and why the North Korean troops shot him, remains unclear, it is, however, still believed that they might have been acting under anti-coronavirus orders that involve shooting anyone illegally crossing the border. Very little is known about the South Korean official, although when his colleague searched for him after his disappearance and found his shoes left on the ship. According to the defence and oceans ministries, days of a search involving aircraft and vessels came up empty-handed. 

The recent incident is expected to deepen the already-strained relations between Seoul and Pyongyang. The tensions between the two nations have been rising ever since Pyongyang first closed and then blew up a joint liaison office in Kaesong. The rival countries have suspended exchange and cooperation programme amid a deadlock in border nuclear diplomacy between North Korea and Washington. 

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