South publicly requests North's cooperation after Navy sailor goes missing near maritime border
Seoul's unusually swift request for Pyongyang's cooperation appears intended to avoid a repeat of what happened to an official who was fatally shot by North Korean troops in 2020 after he drifted into their waters.
The Navy’s newest frigate undergoes sea trials off the coast of Pohang, North Gyeongsang, on March 11.
NEWS1
After a South Korean Navy sailor patrolling near the inter-Korean maritime border went missing early on Sunday, Seoul publicly urged Pyongyang to aid the search.
“A Navy sailor who went missing while on a patrol mission in the East Sea may have drifted north of the Northern Limit Line [NLL],” the South’s Ministry of Unification said that same day. The NLL functions as a de facto maritime demarcation line between the two Koreas.
“We hope that [North Korea], from a humanitarian perspective, will cooperate in finding and repatriating the missing person.”
The sailor, who had been on a patrol mission, went missing in waters about 50 kilometers (31.1 miles) east of Geojin-eup in Goseong County, Gangwon, near the NLL in the East Sea, according to the South Korean Navy.
The Navy is reportedly conducting a joint search with the Coast Guard, using about 10 vessels and aircraft to locate the missing sailor. It has also requested fishing boats and commercial vessels operating in the area to help the search.
The sailor’s case was reported to North Korea through the International Merchant Ship Common Network and other channels that the North can access, the Navy added.
The missing sailor holds the rank of private first class and was aboard a frigate at the time of disappearance. They worked in the vessel’s engine room and was responsible for inspecting the propulsion motor for malfunctions.
The specific circumstances of the incident have not yet been determined. According to a Navy official, the sailor was confirmed to have been on the ship at around midnight that day, but their whereabouts have been unknown since then.
The Navy discovered that the sailor was missing after they failed to report for duty at 8 a.m. and promptly notified their family and launched a large-scale search with the Coast Guard and other authorities.
South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back was briefed on the incident in the morning and ordered officials to do their utmost to rescue the sailor as quickly as possible. He also called for continued close cooperation with the Coast Guard and other relevant agencies.
The government’s unusually swift public request for North Korea’s cooperation — just hours after confirming the sailor’s disappearance — appears intended to avoid a repeat of what happened to Lee Dae-jun, an official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
In September 2020, North Korean troops fatally shot Lee after he drifted into North Korean waters in the Yellow Sea, then burned his body. The South Korean government at the time faced criticism for failing to take timely action despite having learned hours earlier that a North Korean patrol boat had located Lee.
BY CHO MUN-GYU, LEE YU-JUNG AND SHIM SEOK-YONG [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
