Kim Jong-un apologises for ‘disgraceul and unexpected’ shooting

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has apologised for the ‘disgraceful and unexpected’ killing of a South Korean at sea.

Kim Jong-un apologised for ‘disappointing’ President Moon Jae-in and ‘South Koreans’. Picture: KCNA via AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un apologised on Friday over the killing of a South Korean at sea, calling it an “unexpected and disgraceful event”, Seoul’s presidential office said.

The fisheries official was shot dead on Tuesday by North Kor­ean soldiers, and Seoul says his body was set on fire while still in the water, apparently as a precaution against infection by the coronavirus.

It was the first killing of a Southern citizen by North Kor­ean forces for a decade, and provoked outrage in the South.

Kim apologised for “disappointing” President Moon Jae-in and “South Koreans” rather than helping them in the face of the “malicious coronavirus”, said Suh Hoon, the South’s National ­Security Adviser.

Apologies from the North — let alone attributed to Kim personally — are extremely rare, and the message comes with inter-­Korean ties in the deep freeze amid a stand-off in nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington.

Mr Suh was reading out a letter from the department of the North’s ruling party responsible for relations with the South.

In it, Pyongyang acknowledged firing around 10 shots at the man, who had “illegally entered our waters” and refused to properly identify himself.

Border guards fired at him in ­accordance with standing instructions, it said.

His body was no longer visible after the shooting and troops set his flotation device — which was covered in blood — on fire in ­accordance with national emergency prevention regulations.

Seoul military officials say the man was interrogated while in the water over several hours and ­expressed a desire to defect, but was killed after an “order from ­superior authority”.

The man — who was wearing a lifejacket — disappeared from a patrol vessel near the western border island of Yeonpyeong on Monday, and North Korean forces found him in their waters more than 24 hours later.

According to the defence ministry, the people who burnt the body wore gas masks and protective clothing. The ministry had condemned the shooting as an “outrageous act”.

South Korean media reports said he was in his 40s with two children, but had recently ­divorced and had financial problems.

Pyongyang has closed its borders and declared an emergency to try to protect itself against the virus, which has swept the world since first emerging in neighbouring China.

AFP