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(3rd LD) Seoul says shooting of tourist by N.K. soldier cannot be justified
By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government said Sunday that the shooting of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier this week cannot be justified under any circumstances, urging the communist North to react in a responsible way.
"The North Korean military shot dead an unarmed (South Korean) female tourist. The act was wrong by any measure, unimaginable and should not have occurred at all," Seoul's Unification Ministry said in a statement.
"Under a previous inter-Korean agreement, North Korea is obliged to guarantee the safety of South Korean visitors to the North's Mount Geumgang complex. Even if there was any problem caused by the deceased tourist, a proper investigative procedure should have come first. The shooting death cannot be justified under any circumstances," said the statement.
The statement came after North Korea on Saturday refused to allow the South Korean government to inspect the scene of the shooting incident, which occurred early Friday morning on a beach near Mount Geumgang on the North's east coast.
North Korea's tourism authorities in charge of the Mount Geumgang complex expressed regrets over the incident in a statement on Saturday, but refused to offer an apology.
Instead, the North accused the victim, a 53-year-old Seoul housewife named Park Wang-ja, of trespassing in a military area outside of the tourist zone and insisted that the responsibility for the incident rests entirely with South Korea.
In a suspicious move, the North, through the English news service of the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), identified the victim as a man. The KCNA, while carrying a statement by a spokesman for the Guidance Bureau for Comprehensive Development of Scenic Spots on Saturday night, repeatedly referred to the South Korean as "him."
Against such a backdrop, South Korea's Unification Ministry urged North Korea to immediately respond to the South's "justified" demand for a full fact-finding mission regarding the shooting.
"The North Korean military shot dead an ordinary woman tourist, who was unarmed and didn't show any intention to resist. Even worse, North Korea kept the shooting secret for as long as five hours. Such an act is intolerable," said the Unification Ministry statement.
"It's a grave matter involving the life of an innocent citizen. If a full-scale fact-finding probe into such a tragic incident is not carried out, it will discourage all who expect an improvement in inter-Korean relations through dialogue. We also urge the North to take responsible measures to prevent a recurrence of such an incident," said the statement.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, Hong Joon-pyo, floor leader of the ruling Grand National Party, presidential chief of staff Chung Chung-kil and other leaders of the government and the ruling party held an emergency meeting at Han's residence Sunday morning and agreed to strongly urge North Korea to accept such a fact-finding mission.
"The North Korean shooting of an unarmed female tourist at dawn is certainly excessive and beyond common sense. It doesn't conform to international law," said Hwang Jin-ha, a deputy policymaker of the party, after the meeting.
"There are too many questions that must be answered. The full truth must be revealed through a full-scale investigation," he said.
In a related development, Hyundai Asan, the operator of the South Korean tours of Mount Geumgang, said its chief executive officer Yoon Man-joon has been in consultations with North Korean authorities about the shooting since arriving at the North Korean mountain resort on Saturday.
"Yoon arrived at North Korea's Mount Geumgang Saturday afternoon and has since met with North Korean officials to inquire about the shooting incident," said the company, an affiliate of the Hyundai Group, refusing to give further details.
ycm@yna.co.kr
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