SEOUL– South Korea’s defense ministry expressed regret Thursday about its 2020 announcement that a fisheries official appeared to have attempted to defect to North Korea before being killed by border troops there.
The ministry’s statement came as the country’s coast guard formally reversed the results of its probe into the case that occurred in September 2020. The official, then aged 47, was fatally shot by the North’s military on Sept. 22, 2020, a day after going missing while on duty near the northwestern South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong, according to the South’s authorities.
The Korea Coast Guard and the Ministry of National Defense initially said he had apparently tried to defect to the North. The ministry then issued a statement condemning the North’s “atrocity,” saying its military killed the South Korean national and set his body ablaze.
Earlier Thursday, however, the Korea Coast Guard made public that it has been unable to prove that the official had actually sought defection.
“We have caused people confusion by announcing that the official was presumed to have attempted to defect to the North,” the ministry said in a text message sent to reporters. “We think it is regrettable that we were not able to provide more facts, as we could not divulge all things for security reasons.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency