Pyongyang warns S.Korea against violating sea border

Seoul (IANS) Pyongyang on Sunday warned Seoul against violating its western sea border as search continued for the body of a South Korean official who was shot and killed in North Korean waters.

South Korea has continued to locate the body of the 47-year-old fisheries official who was shot and killed by North Korean troops on September 22 after he drifted into their waters near the Yellow Sea border between the two sides, reports Yonhap News Agency.

While the South has said that the troops burnt the official's body, the North maintains that it was lost in the sea after he was shot.

In a report, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said: "According to a report by the western fleet of our navy, the South side has mobilized many vessels including warships to an action presumed to be a search operation and let them intrude into our territorial waters since September 25. It arouses our due vigilance as it may lead to another awful incident.

"We can never overlook any intrusion into our territorial waters and we seriously warn the south side against it. We urge the South side to immediately halt the intrusion across the military demarcation line in the west sea that may lead to escalation of tensions."

In report, the KCNA further said that North Korea has planned to organise a search operation of its own and considers "procedures" and "ways" of handing over "any tide-brought corpse in case we find it during the operation".

On September 25, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offered an apology for the "unexpected" and "unfortunate" incident that took place in his country's waters, reports Yonhap News Agency.

On Saturday, South Korea's presidential office said it will demand North Korea carry out an additional or joint investigation into the killing.

But it remained unclear whether North Korea will accept it.