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(LEAD) Distance from which tourist was shot in NK difficult to measure: Forensic expert
SEOUL, July 16 (Yonhap) -- Forensics experts confirmed Wednesday that the South Korean tourist killed in North Korea was shot in her chest and buttocks, but said the exact shooting distance was difficult to determine.
"We found a total of two gunshot wounds, in her chest and buttocks," Seo Jung-seok, the top forensics scientist at the National Institute of Scientific Investigation, told reporters after conducting an autopsy on the victim's body.
"Judging by the degree of damage to her internal organs and other evidence, it appears she was killed by 'long-distance shooting'" Seo said. He added, however, that by the term "long-distance shooting," he meant a distance of longer than 1-2 meters.
"It is difficult to judge the exact shooting distance based on that information," the scientist stressed.
Park Wang-ja, a 53-year-old housewife, was killed while strolling on a beach near North Korea's mountain resort of Geumgang in the pre-dawn hours of Friday morning.
North Korea claimed Park crossed deep into a fenced-off North Korean military zone, but fled toward the hotel where she was staying when the soldier fired an unspecified number of warning shots and ordered her to halt. Earlier Wednesday, the North allegedly changed its account, saying the soldier shot three times after firing a warning shot.
"The North Korean side said it shot Park, who was running away, three times after firing a blank," Yoon Man-joon, chief executive of Hyundai Asan Corp., told reporters.
Yoon returned home on Tuesday after a four-day trip to the site to persuade North Korean officials to allow South Korean officials' access to the scene for investigation.
Seo said the shooting damaged Park's vital organs, such as her lungs and liver, and caused heavy blood loss.
He also said the entry wounds indicated that the shots came from a 5.5 mm caliber rifle. Firearms experts say the North is believed to have AK-74 rifles capable of hitting targets within 550 meters.
The North's earlier account had sparked some questions, such as how the middle-aged housewife could walk some 3 kilometers in just over 20 minutes, and whether the soldier had actually fired warning shots. A college student who claimed to have witnessed the incident said he only heard two gunshots and a scream.
Some South Korean newspapers had raised suspicions that a second North Korean soldier stationed in a post closer to the woman may have shot her without any warning shortly after she crossed into the restricted area. In that case, she may have been walking rather than running, the newspapers said. North Korea fueled these suspicions by frequently changing its account.
The autopsy, however, failed to resolve the questions, including what happened to the third shot.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)
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