Seoul: No evidence slain official tried to defect to N Korea

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s new conservative government says there is no evidence that a South Korean official slain by North Korea near the rivals’ disputed sea boundary in 2020 had intended to defect to the North. Thursday’s announcement by the government of President Yoon Suk Yeol has reversed an earlier assessment by its liberal predecessor that the man with gambling debts jumped ship to resettle in the North. The killing of the fisheries official has been a major source of domestic divide in South Korea, with conservatives accusing the then-liberal government of failing to strongly respond to North Korea in the hopes of better ties.