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Seoul: North Korea has not cooperated with efforts to investigate the death of a South Korean tourist at a mountain resort in the communist nation, a Seoul official said yesterday, as the South's leader escalated criticism of the killing.
North Korea said it regrets the death of a South Korean woman, but blames the South for the incident.
The North's Guidance Bureau for Comprehensive Development of Scenic Spots yesterday added that it will not accept South Korea's request that Seoul officials be allowed to visit the resort for an investigation.
South Korea has been trying to send the North an official message asking for help in the investigation of the shooting of the 53-year-old tourist by a North Korean soldier near the Diamond Mountain resort.
But North Korean liaison officials at the border village of Panmunjom have not shown any "active response" to the request, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said. The ministry is responsible for South Korea's relations with the North, and official messages are usually transmitted through the liaison officials.
The victim, Park Wang-ja, was killed before dawn after she entered a fenced-off restricted area along a beach near the resort. North Korea told the South Korean tour organiser that a soldier opened fire because Park ignored a warning to halt and instead ran away. The South Korean government suspended tours to the resort pending an investigation.
Yesterday, President Lee denounced the killing and urged the North to cooperate in the probe. "What cannot and should not happen has happened," Lee told a security ministers' meeting, according to his office. "I can't understand that they shot a civilian tourist" at a time of the day when it is possible to discern she is a civilian, Lee said. He urged Pyongyang to "actively cooperate" in an investigation.
The remarks, which were much stronger than his earlier comments. On Friday, Lee said only that he regretted Park's death.
Also yesterday, the head of Hyundai Asan, the South Korean company that organises the tours and operates the North Korean resort, left for the North to meet officials, visit the shooting site and urge the government to agree to a joint investigation.
South Korean media called for a thorough probe, raising a series of questions about the death. "We need to know how Park was able to enter the area, whether warning shots were fired and if it was necessary to fatally wound the victim," the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial.
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