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On Sept. 27, South Korean marines conduct a search operation in the waters off Yeonpyeong Island for the remains of a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official who was shot and killed by North Korean military. (Yonhap News)

Presiding over an emergency meeting of national security-related Cabinet ministers on the afternoon of Sept. 27, South Korean President Moon Jae-in made the decision to “request a joint investigation to swiftly determine the facts” in connection with the fatal shooting of a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) official by the North Korean military following his disappearance near Yeonpyeong Island, National Security Council Secretary-General Seo Ju-seok said. Early the same morning, North Korea had indicated that it plans to turn the official’s remains over to the South if it discovered them in its territorial waters.

At a press conference to announce the decisions made at the meeting presided over by Moon, Seo officially made a proposal for a joint investigation, saying that Seoul “positively views the North’s swift apology and promise to prevent similar incidents from occurring again” but adding that there had been “discrepancies in the circumstances and facts of the incident as determined respectively by the South and North.”

The Blue House expressed its “hope that the facts will be brought to light in an open manner, regardless of the respective investigation findings announced by the South and North.” It went to request the “restoration and reoperation of the military communication hotline for the sake of communication, discussions, and information exchanges to this end.”

Seo also stressed the need for “priority efforts to retrieve the remains and personal effects for the sake of the investigation and out of humanitarian consideration for the surviving family members.”

“We hope that South and North can cooperate as each party conducts a full-scale search in its territorial waters and exchanges the necessary information,” he said.

While the decision at the meeting was to officially request a joint investigation, it effectively proposes a sequence of events to North Korea in which both parties conduct a search in their respective waters, after which the military communication hotline would be restored and reoperated, with the joint investigation proceeding in accordance with the two sides’ discussions.

Adopting the format of a Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report early the same morning, North Korea announced that it was “about to organize a search operation in the southwestern waters and the western seashore.”

“We even consider the procedures and ways of handing over any tide-brought corpse to the south side conventionally in case we find it during the operation,” the piece continued.

“We also took more necessary security measures in order to make sure that no more incidents spoiling the relations of trust and respect between the north and the south would happen in any case, true to the intention of our Supreme Leadership,” it said.

But the same “report” -- which bore the title “S. Korean Authorities Warned against Intrusion” -- went on to say, “[A]ccording to a report by the western fleet of our navy, the south side has mobilized many vessels including warships to an action presumed to be a search operation and let them intrude into our territorial waters since Sept. 25.”

“It arouses our due vigilance as it may lead to another awful incident,” it added.

The report warned, “[W]e can never overlook any intrusion into our territorial waters and we seriously warn the south side against it.”

“We urge the south side to immediately halt the intrusion across the military demarcation line in the west sea that may lead to escalation of tensions,” it continued.

A South Korean military official stressed, “Maritime search activities in connection with this incident are being conducted and will continue to be conducted in a normal manner.”

“We have no reason to deliberately cause a situation,” the official added.

The same official noted that there were “currently dozens of Chinese fishing boats and other vessels working near the NLL [Northern Limit Line].”

“We’re also taking part in activities to control that,” the official explained.

In connection with this, Seo Ju-seok said that Seoul was “requesting that Chinese authorities and fishing vessels cooperate with the retrieval of the [official’s] remains and personal effects.”

While a Military Demarcation Line (MDL) is established on land in accordance with the Korean Armistice Agreement, there are no definite maritime borders recognized by that agreement and international law and officially agreed upon by South and North, which has led to repeated conflicts and clashes between the two sides over the years. Many observers are stressing the need for South and North Korean authorities alike to manage the situation and prevent it from escalating into a conflict or clash involving the “Achilles heel” of inter-Korean relations with the maritime boundary in the West Sea.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer, and Kim Ji-eun and Seo Young-ji, staff reporters

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