North Korean troops executed missing South Korean official, set his body on fire
A South Korean government official who may have tried to defect to North Korea was shot to death and then set on fire by sailors from the Communist country.
The 47-year-old man vanished from a boat on Monday that was carrying 18 other South Korean officials who were investigating potential illegal fishing near the water border between the two rival nations.
North Korean officials, wearing gas masks, found him in their waters floating on a small object on Tuesday and alerted the navy.
North Korean sailors then approached him from a boat and shot him to death, according to the statement, which cited surveillance intelligence.
The sailors put on gas masks and other protective equipment, then doused the man’s body with gasoline and set him on fire, according to the report.