Team News Riveting
A debt-ridden South Korean fisheries official allegedly killed by North Korea had put the inter-Korean relations in tangle.
North Korea reportedly shot and killed the 47-year-old official affiliated with the oceans ministry at sea before burning his body, Seoul’s defense ministry said. He went missing from an inspection boat on Monday while on duty in waters off the western border island of Yeonpyeong.
The missing official still remains a mystery. Earlier, it was presumed that he jumped into the sea to defect to the North and drifted into North Korean waters, considering he left his shoes on the boat, was wearing a life jacket and was clinging to an unidentified floating item when a North Korean vessel found him at around 3:30 p.m., Tuesday.
The man had reportedly expressed his intention to defect to North Korea to the crewmembers also. The South Korean authorities later denied that there were any indications that the official was defecting to the North.
The maritime police did not rule out the possibility that he may have attempted defection as the official was well aware of the sea current and is known to suffer financial problems.
The official, whose identity was withheld, divorced four months ago and had borrowed money from many of his fellow officials. According to one of his colleagues, the official’s debt had exceeded 20 million won (US$17,000) after he borrowed several million won each from a number of fellow officials.
Some of the creditors had even filed for court orders to seize his salary, the colleague said. It was also known that the official may have come under psychological pressure after receiving a notice of salary seizure from the court.
