Kim Jong Un Apologises For Fatal Shooting Of Seoul Govt Employee

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has apologised for the fatal shooting of a South Korean national by the communist country’s military personnel fearing that he was a coronavirus carrier.

The gesture is being seen as a move that may help ease a new source of tension between the two rivals, The New Indian Express (TNIE) reported.

The victim was a 47-year-old man who worked for the fisheries ministry, South Korea National Security Adviser Suh Hoon was quoted as saying.

On Friday morning, North Korea sent a letter apologising for the same.

“Kim gave the order to deliver the message that he is very sorry that the incident gave a major disappointment to South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the South Korean people,” the letter said, according to Suh. North Korea’s official media had so far made no mention of the incident, TNIE added.

According to a South Korean Defense Ministry statement, the victim went missing from his boat near Yeonpyeong Island on Monday morning. North Korean personnel shot the man and burned his body. He was apparently trying to defect but was treated harshly by the North Koreans because they believed he could have coronavirus, Yonhap News Agency cited a South Korean military official as saying.