North Korean troops shot a South Korean government official who may have attempted to defect and set his body on fire, South Korea says.
FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2010, file photo, a government ship sails past the South Korean Navy's floating base as the sun rises near Yeonpyeong island, South Korea. A South Korean official who disappeared off a government ship near the disputed sea boundary with North Korea this week may be in North Korea, South Korea's Defense Ministry said Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020.
Sailors from the boat, putting on gas masks and protective suits, poured gasoline on his body and set it aflame, the Defense Ministry said, citing intelligence gathered by surveillance equipment and other assets. North Korea has steadfastly said there hasn’t been a single virus case on its territory, a claim widely disputed by many foreign experts. Observers say a pandemic could cause devastating consequences in North Korea because of its broken publicSouth Korea sent a message to North Korea via a communication channel at the U.S.-led U.N. Command in South Korea on Wednesday to ask about the missing official. But North Korea hasn’t responded, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.
The poorly marked western sea boundary is where several bloody naval skirmishes and two deadly attacks blamed on North Korea happened in recent years. The government ship was near South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island, which was hit by North Korean artillery in 2010, killing four people. “A public servant defecting to North Korea? I think it sounds bit strange as he has a stable job security,” said Choi Kang, vice president of Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “Why did North Korea shoot a man defecting to the North voluntarily? I can also say the burning of his body was an attempt to conceal evidence.”
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