Why has Kim Jong Un issued a rare personal apology to South Korea?

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has issued a rare personal apology to South Korea. Kim has aplogised to his South-Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in for the killing of a South Korean official

In a letter sent to South Korea’s Blue House, Kim called the killing a “disgraceful affair” and said he felt “very sorry” for “disappointing” Mr Moon and the South Korean people

The letter claims that the units responded to a call that an unidentified male was found floating on an object in the sea. About 10 rounds were fired at the man after he did not comply with a soldier’s demand to identify himself and subsequent warning shots.

What Happened?

According to BBC, The father-of-two, who worked for the fisheries department, was on his patrol boat about 10km from the border with the North, near the island of Yeonpyeong, when he disappeared on Monday

Later, on Tuesday, A North Korean patrol boat found the man, who was wearing a life jacket, at sea. They put gas masks on and questioned him from a distance before “orders from the superior authority” came in that the man be killed. He was shot dead in the water.

The shooting came a day after Moon proposed a new initiative including North Korea to the U.N. General Assembly and called for a formal termination of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, a long-standing North Korean demand.