N.K. apologizes to China for murders by military deserter

North Korea expressed regret to the Chinese government over the murder of four ethnic Korean Chinese by a North Korean military deserter, an incident that occurred on December 27.

Asked by a reporter on treatment of the case after a regular press briefing on Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said, “China conveyed a message of protest to North Korea, and the North expressed regret over the occurrence of the incident and paid condolences to victims’ families.” Hong said, “The incident is a criminal case and both North Korea and China are taking seriously,” adding, “Soon after the incident, Chinese police launched operation to arrest the suspect, and the suspect who suffered injury in the course of arrest operation died while taking treatment.”

It is unusual that the North officially admitted to and apologized for murders by a North Korean military deserter that occurred at a border area. The measure has apparently been taken, as ramifications have escalated, with official Chinese state media criticizing Beijing’s failure to disclose an incident, in which its own citizens had been murdered, even after the Chinese foreign ministry immediately confirmed the occurrence of the incident and filed protest against the North, following The Dong-A Ilbo’s reporting on the case on Monday.

Following the incident, there is mounting voice in China that calls for complete blocking of ‘illegal border crossings (defection from North Korea)’ by significantly beefing up surveillance over the North Korea-China border. The Chinese government considers North Korean defectors as ‘illegal border crossers seeking economic gains,’ rather than political refugees, and hence there is concern that China could beef up surveillance over the border, and step up measures to clamp down on North Korean defectors within China and deport them back to the North.

Attention is also focusing on what compensation will be made to the bereaved families of the victims. The bereaved family of three members of a Chinese family, who were murdered by a North Korean civilian man in an incident that occurred in the same area on September 3 last year, was reportedly paid only 3,000 yuan (about 500 US dollars) in compensation from a local government of China.