South Korean official was in his patrol boat near this island of Yeonpyeong — Internet SEOUL, Sept 24 (BBC): A South Korean official has been shot dead and burned by North Korean troops, the South's defence ministry said, condemning the "brutal act".
Seoul said the man, who worked for the fisheries department, disappeared from a patrol boat near the border and was later found in the North's waters.
North Korean soldiers shot him, then poured oil over his body and set it alight, the ministry said. It believed it was an anti-coronavirus measure.
Pyongyang has not commented.
The border between the Koreas is tightly policed, and the North is thought to have a "shoot-to-kill" policy in place to prevent Covid-19 from entering the country.
The incident would be the second time North Korean troops have shot and killed a South Korean civilian. In July 2008, a tourist was shot by a soldier at Mount Kumgang.
The official was on his patrol boat about 10km (6 miles) from the border with the North, near the island of Yeonpyeong, when he disappeared on Monday, the South Korean defence ministry said.
The 47-year-old father of two had left his shoes behind on the boat. It is believed he had been trying to defect, a rare but not unprecedented move.
A North Korean patrol boat found the man, who was wearing a life jacket, at sea at around 15:30 local time on Tuesday, Seoul added.
They put gas masks on and questioned him from a distance before "orders from [a] superior authority" came in that the man be killed. He was shot dead in the water.
North Korean troops then burned the corpse while at sea, South Korean defence ministry officials said, adding that they believed this might have been an anti-coronavirus measure.
President Moon Jae-in called the killing a "shocking" incident that cannot be tolerated. He urged the North to take "responsible" measures over the attack.
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