hankyoreh

The Mugunghwa 10 inspection vessel, which was taken by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official who was killed by North Korean military on Sept. 22, next to the Mugunghwa 29, a boat dispatched by the South Korean government to investigate the case of the official’s disappearance. (Yonhap News)

A Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) official who was shot dead by the North Korean military did indeed attempt to defect to the North, but the question of whether his body was “desecrated” requires further investigation, the ruling Democratic Party claims.

The party’s “special committee for inter-Korean joint investigation of the shooting of a civilian in the West Sea and prevention of similar incidents in the future” announced on Sept. 28 that it had been “confirmed according to South Korean and US intelligence obtained through various channels that [the official] was indeed attempting to defect to North Korea.” But the committee also reserved conclusions on the question of whether the remains were “desecrated,” or set on fire, by North Korean soldiers. The intelligence received by the South Korean military only mentioned the word “burned” without any specific reference to what had been burned, sources said.

In a press conference that day at the National Assembly Communication Building, the committee’s chairperson Hwang Hee verified the claims that the official shot by the North Korean military was trying to defect to the North.

“While I cannot disclose the source, this is a matter that cannot be disputed, as factual materials do exist and will continued to be preserved,” he said, adding that the conclusion was “not simply based on the fact that he was wearing a life vest and had left his shoes behind neatly arranged, but has been determined by the Ministry of National Defense [MND] with additional details acquired from intelligence assets.”

Hwang withheld a conclusion on the question of the official’s remains being burned, insisting that the matter required additional investigation.

“There would need to be a joint [inter-Korean] investigation to determine whether only the flotation device was burned as North Korea claims, or whether the body was also burned as South Korea has ascertained,” he said.

“In contrast with the defection question, this appears to require additional analysis and intelligence,” he added. In its initial announcement, the South Korean military said that the North Korean military had fatally shot the missing official at 9:40 pm on Sept. 22 and then poured fuel on his remains and burned them for 40 minutes.

Hwang said, “As far as the defection matter is concerned, that’s something where we can make a determination [based on the intelligence].”

“The same can’t be said for the matter of the body being desecrated, but the intelligence does allow us to make quite credible suppositions,” he added.

An investigation by the Hankyoreh determined that the intelligence acquired by the military included a reference to “burning,” but did not clearly indicate whether the body or flotation device was burned. At the same time, the military reportedly explained to a number of National Assembly National Defense Committee members that while the intelligence does not precisely indicate what was burned, there was “other circumstantial evidence enabling a determination that they burned the remains.” The military explained to the members of the National Defense Committee that the North Korean military was “believed to have placed Styrofoam around the remains and set it alight.”

Evidence was also found to suggest that apparent rescue efforts continued for some time after the victim was discovered by North Korea. A key MND official explained, “We detected evidence of what appeared to be rescue activities for some time after a military official first became aware [of the situation] at 3:30 pm on Sept. 22, but the situation took a sudden turn and there were restrictions imposed on [South Korea’s] response.”

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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