ROK Army shoots, kills man attempting to swim to N. Korea
I’ll withhold my criticism until I know a few more facts, but I can’t immediately understand why South Korean troops had to shoot and kill a South Korean man who was swimming the Imjin toward North Korea.
This would not be the first South-to-North defection, but I don’t know why one the loss of one more nut or fugitive would be a great loss to the South. If the South doesn’t address the appropriateness of the use of force, it will weaken calls for North Korea to treat would-be defectors from North Korea differently.
By day’s end, we should know more than we know now. I’d like to know whether this was really necessary.
Update: The more I read, the harder I find the ROK Army’s explanation to accept as a sufficient justification. I can’t see punishing soldiers who followed the rules of engagement they were given, but the army should review its rules of engagement for incidents like this one.
Could the swimmer have been a suspected spy?
I suppose so, but the North Koreans certainly have better ways than this to cross the border undetected. I wouldn’t think that a spy carrying information important enough to justify the use of deadly force would try to swim the Imjin right along the world’s most heavily guarded border.
Good point. The event has quite a few hallmarks of crazy about it.
Chosun Ilbo mentioned he was deported from Japan which made me think he was a Chongryon, but Yonhap said “The dead man had applied for refugee status in Japan for political reasons, but his application was turned down and he was expelled from the nation,” so who knows what the deal was.