A fishing guidance official was confirmed to have disappeared while onboard a fishing boat near Soyeonpyeong Island on September 21st and was later not found despite the authorities' search. The South Korean military said the man was shot and killed by North Korean troops on September 22nd, and that he apparently attempted to defect to the North. It is the first time that North Korea has shot and killed a South Korean citizen since the killing of a tourist, Park Wang-ja, at Mount Geumgang in 2008.

▲ A South Korean fishing guidance official was killed by North Korea, after reported missed.

Ahn Young-ho, the chief of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on the 24th, "Our military confirmed that North Korea committed the atrocities of firing and burning bodies against South Koreans found in North Korean waters after analyzing various intelligence." South Korea's military condemned the North's "barbaric behavior" and urged Pyongyang to explain the incident and punish those who are responsible.

▲ Ahn Young-ho, the chief of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff

However, the report from North Korea is different from the one in South Korea. On September 25th, North Korea released a notice in the name of the United Front Department, along with an unusual apology of Kim Jong-un to the case. In the notice, North Korea said that a South Korean man was not a defector but an illegal intruder, and he did not answer to a demand for identification. Also, North Korea admitted that the man was shot by the North Korean army, but said they did not burn the body. It argues that the body was lost, and only burned the floating matter.

As South Korea search for the body of the official, North Korea is arguing that South Korea is trespassing the maritime demarcation. Maritime demarcation in the Southern sea of the Korean peninsula has conflicted after North Korea unilaterally declared new demarcation in 1999. On September 27th, South Korea requests for joint investigation for the case to North Korea, and the attention is focused on whether North Korea will accept that.

▲ North Korea keeps unilaterally arguing the maritime demarcation as B.

September 27th, 2020

by Shin Seung-won