Jung Se-hyun: "North Korea Likely Made a Reduced Report... Ministry of National Defense's Announcement Closer to the Truth"

"Burning of the body, fearing Kim Jong-un's image will worsen"
"North Korea will not agree to joint South-North investigation"

Jeong Se-hyun, Senior Vice Chairman of the Democratic Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, is giving a greeting at the rally urging the reopening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, hosted by the Kaesong Industrial Complex Support Foundation, held on February 11 in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

Regarding the incident in which a South Korean citizen died from gunfire by North Korean forces in the West Sea, conflicting statements have emerged from both North and South Korea. On the 28th, Jeong Se-hyun, Senior Vice Chairman of the Democratic Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, stated, "I believe the Ministry of National Defense's announcement is closer to the substantive truth."

Senior Vice Chairman Jeong appeared on KBS Radio that day and claimed, "(The North Korean authorities) likely downplayed the report because if they admitted to having people on board, North Korea's international image would deteriorate significantly, and Chairman Kim Jong-un would bear a very negative image, so they were probably concerned about the ripple effects." He added, "The sincerity of the apology will continue to be a topic of discussion going forward."

He also explained the background behind North Korea's swift sending of a traditional letter expressing apology, saying, "If (due to this incident) North Korea's external image worsens, causing inter-Korean relations to collapse and eliminating any possibility of improving North Korea-U.S. relations after the U.S. presidential election, wouldn't that be problematic?" He continued, "Chairman Kim personally stepped in to downplay the incident and suggested moving forward with an apology in that manner."

Furthermore, Senior Vice Chairman Jeong firmly stated that North Korea would not agree to the joint search and investigation requested by the South. He said, "From our president's standpoint, it is naturally proper to propose a joint investigation," but added, "North Korea will not be able to agree to a joint investigation."

He questioned, "For a joint investigation to take place, the site must be preserved," and explained, "Whether it is an incident or a crime, the site must be preserved to conduct any investigation, but since the bodies have already been burned and the floating debris has also been burned, where would such an investigation be conducted?"

He continued, "Since the incident occurred in North Korean waters, for a joint investigation to happen, our navy would have to enter North Korean waters," and added, "However, North Korea dislikes our forces entering their waters, and so they are currently evading by saying they are studying ways to return the bodies if found. A joint investigation will be difficult."

Despite these controversies, Senior Vice Chairman Jeong predicted that the transmission of this traditional letter from North Korea has created a possibility for dialogue on the Korean Peninsula to resume.

He mentioned, "In the traditional letter sent by North Korea, they expressed hope that the trust and good relations built up until now would not be broken because of this, and conveyed their apologies to President Moon Jae-in and the South Korean compatriots." He added, "Although there is no mention of the United States in the letter, the fact that the U.S. State Department acknowledged it suggests that, regardless of the substantive truth, this apology from the North could serve as a starting point for dialogue."

Earlier, the U.S. State Department evaluated Chairman Kim's apology regarding this incident as a "helpful measure." The statement was issued more quickly than usual, interpreted as a positive assessment of Chairman Kim's unprecedented public apology preventing further deterioration of the situation.

Senior Vice Chairman Jeong also referred to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Korea in October and Lee Do-hoon's visit to the U.S. as head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Korean Peninsula Peace Negotiation Division, emphasizing, "It seems that close cooperation is taking place between South Korea and the U.S. on this issue, and if that happens, the situation will change."

North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un officially apologized to our side regarding the incident in which a public official who went missing at sea near Soyeonpyeongdo in the West Sea was shot and killed by North Korea. Two days later, on the 27th, Chinese fishing boats were catching blue crabs in the northern waters near Yeonpyeongdo.

Meanwhile, doubts continue as the North and South present differing accounts of the key issues in this incident. There are discrepancies between the South Korean military and intelligence agencies' intelligence assessments and North Korea's explanations in the notification to the South regarding whether the bodies were burned, whether there was testimony about an attempted defection to the North, the circumstances of the shooting, and orders from higher-ups.

The South claims, based on intelligence, that North Korea executed the shooting and then burned the bodies, and that they have grasped the overall situation including voluntary defection testimony. They also explained that there were orders from the North Korean naval command.

On the other hand, North Korea, in a traditional letter sent to the South under the name of the United Front Department the previous morning, referred to the deceased public official as an "intruder," claimed that the body was not among the floating debris after the shooting, and that the debris was burned. They also asserted that the shooting was carried out according to the decision of the patrol boat commander, presenting claims that contradict the South's explanation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.