SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea known as on Sunday for a joint investigation with North Korea in an energy to resolve critical specifics more than the killing of a South Korean official at sea that prompted a unusual apology from the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
The South Korean official, whose title has not been launched but who worked on a ship monitoring fishing boats close to the disputed western sea border involving the two Koreas, was shot by North Korean troops on Tuesday following he was identified adrift in North Korean waters.
In an apology provided on Friday, Mr. Kim calling the occasions “unexpected” and “unfortunate.” But the two Koreas have differed over big specifics in their accounts of what took place.
South Korea insisted that the guy had been attempting to defect, pointing out that he had left his footwear on the boat and entered the water sporting a existence jacket. South Korean officials informed reporters, with out elaborating, that they had “special intelligence” indicating that the guy had conveyed his intentions to defect to North Koreans. They also accused North Korean soldiers of burning the official’s physique at sea.
South Korea condemned the killing as an “atrocious” and “stunning” act.
But North Korea known as the South Korean official an “illegal intruder” who failed to clarify his presence in North Korean waters on a floating gadget when he was confronted by a North Korean patrol ship. The North acknowledged its troops had shot and killed the guy, but mentioned that they could not come across his physique and that his floating gadget had been burned in accordance to disorder-manage suggestions to protect against the spread of the coronavirus.
“Since there are gaps in the findings by South and North Korea, we request a joint investigation so we can create the reality as quickly as doable,” Suh Choo-suk, a deputy director of nationwide safety in South Korea, mentioned on Sunday.
The request for a joint inquiry followed an emergency meeting involving President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and safety-relevant cabinet ministers earlier Sunday to talk about the killing of the official.
After the meeting, South Korea also known as for the restoration of hotlines involving the militaries of each Koreas to aid a joint investigation. North Korea severed all official communication channels with the South in June, accusing Seoul of not residing up to its guarantees to strengthen financial and other ties with the North.
There was no fast response from the North.
Dozens of South Korean Navy and Coast Guard ships and planes have been seeking the waters close to the disputed inter-Korean border to come across the official’s physique.
The North’s official Korean Central Information Company mentioned on Sunday that North Korea planned to hand more than the official’s physique must it be identified in its waters. But it accused the South Korean ships of intruding in their search, and warned of “another unfortunate incident.”
South Korea said that its ships had not crossed the Northern Restrict Line, a western maritime sea border unilaterally set by the American-led United Nations Command at the finish of the 1950-53 Korean War. Although South Korea patrols waters south of the Northern Restrict Line, the North does not understand it. It insists on another borderline even further to the south and frequently accuses the South of violating its territorial waters.