A North Korean Atrocity, Shooting and Burning the Body of a South Korean

[경향신문]

On September 21, in the North’s territorial waters, North Korean soldiers shot a South Korean civil servant, who had gone missing off the coast of Soyeonpyeong-do in Ongjin-gun, Incheon, near the northern border in the Yellow Sea. They then poured oil and burned the body. This is the first time in twelve years that a South Korean civilian was shot dead in North Korean territory since the death of Park Wang-ja, who was shot during a trip to Mount Kumgang in July 2008. The brutal death is expected to drive the deadlocked inter-Korean relations to a dark extreme.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on September 24, a vessel of the North Korean fisheries service discovered A (47), a civil servant in the West Sea Fisheries Management Service under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, on a floating matter wearing a life jacket off the coast of Deungsangot in North Korea at around 3:30 p.m. September 22, a day after he was reported missing. The military captured circumstantial evidence showing that North Korean sailors wore personal protective equipment and kept their distance, while they listened to A explain how he came to enter the North Korean sea.

Six hours later, at around 9:40 p.m. North Korean troops sailed on a patrol ship and shot A. A military official conveyed that there appeared to be an order from a “superior officer” in the Navy shortly before the shooting. At around 10 p.m. the North Korean soldiers poured oil on A’s corpse and burned it in the North’s territorial waters. The official explained that such circumstances were also verified by the light in the North Korean sea, observed by surveillance equipment in Yeonpyeong-do.

However, despite confirming circumstances that suggested that a North Korean vessel had found A, the military did not make any request for A to the North during the 5-6 hours before A was shot. Military authorities notified North Korea that a person was missing through the UN Command at around 4:35 p.m. September 23 and requested a reply, but the North has yet to respond. Military authorities believe A may have been trying to defect to the North given that he was wearing a life jacket and that he had expressed his intention to defect to the North.

This day at the parliamentary National Defense Committee, Defense Minister Suh Wook said that the military believed North Korea abandoned A’s corpse at sea and said, “We have given the patrol operation troops the mission (to find the body), and they are currently carrying out the order.”

According to Cheongwadae spokesperson Kang Min-seok, after receiving a report on the results of the National Security Council standing committee meeting from Chief of Staff Noh Young-min and Suh Hoon, chief of the National Security Office this afternoon, President Moon Jae-in said, “It is a shocking incident, and one we deeply regret.” Kang also conveyed that the president expected a responsible reply and actions from North Korean authorities.

In a briefing, Seo Joo-seok, secretary-general of the National Security Council said, “North Korean troops shooting an unarmed South Korean citizen who had no intention to resist and damaging the body cannot be justified by any reason.” The defense ministry also announced, “We sternly warn that all responsibility following the atrocity committed against our people lies with North Korea.”

The parliamentary National Defense Committee defined the latest action by the North as “a serious military provocation towards the Republic of Korea and a very serious and critical threat to stability on the Korean Peninsula and peace in Northeast Asia.” The committee unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the latest act, which stated, “All ensuing responsibility lies solely with the North Korean government.”

Cheongwadae conveyed that President Moon first received an in-person report on this incident on the morning of September 23 and said, “Identify the truth and inform the people as it is.” However, as news of the incident surfaced a day after the president proposed an end-of-war declaration on the Korean Peninsula in his keynote address at the UN General Assembly, some in the opposition parties raised allegations on an attempt to conceal the incident. Cheongwadae explained, “On the morning of September 23, when the president addressed the UN, we had yet to verify the credibility of the intelligence.”