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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presides over a meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). (KCNA/Yonhap News)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said on Sept. 25 he was “extremely sorry to have greatly disappointed President Moon Jae-in and my compatriots in South Korea because of an unexpected and disgraceful incident.” Kim was referring to the North Korean military’s fatal shooting of a South Korean official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF).

“We received a message from North Korea on the morning of Sept. 25. In the message, which was signed by the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea [WPK], the North Koreans said that ‘an incident occurred on the coast of Kangryong County, South Hwanghae Province, on the evening of Sept. 22 in which an unidentified individual appears to have been shot by North Korean soldiers after illegally trespassing deep into our territorial waters,’” said Suh Hoon, director of the Blue House’s National Security Office, during a briefing on Friday.

North Korea contradicted the South Korean government’s claim that the official’s body had been burned by the soldiers. “What was burned was the flotation device,” the message said.

The North Korean message also included an apology. “We convey our feelings of regret for the occurrence in our waters of an event that will obviously have an unpleasant impact on inter-Korean relations.”

In addition, Suh told reporters that Moon and Kim had exchanged personal letters within the past month.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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