Missing South Korean Fisheries Official Shot Dead In North Korea - Defense Ministry

SEOUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th September, 2020) A South Korean fisheries official, who went missing while on duty in the waters near the border, was shot dead in North Korea, South Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The 47-year-old fisheries official went missing on September 21 in the afternoon while on duty on an inspection boat near the South-North border.

"As a result of careful analysis of various intelligence data, our military confirmed that North Korea shot dead our citizen, who was found in North Korean waters, and burned his body. We extremely condemn such atrocities by North Korea and demand explanations and punishment of those responsible," Gen. Ahn Young-ho, in charge of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a briefing.

"We strongly warn [Pyongyang] that all responsibility for what happened lies with North Korea," Ahn said.

According to Yonhap news agency citing South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff officials, the missing man is believed to have made an attempt to defect to the North by jumping into the sea on Monday.

The agency quoted an official as saying that crew members of a North Korean vessel had questioned the South Korean man from a distance and then "shot him and poured oil over his body to set it aflame" on "orders from a superior authority."

"We judge that North Korea appears to have taken such measures against humanity of unconditionally shooting an individual as part of its COVID-19 quarantine guidelines," the official said as quoted by Yonhap.