Missing South Korean official was shot by North after jumping off boat and trying to defect, says Seoul

North Korean forces shot dead a South Korean fisheries official who disappeared off a patrol vessel and ended up in Pyongyang's waters, Seoul's defence ministry said Thursday, calling it an "outrageous act". The 47-year-old man had been on board a vessel near the western border island of Yeonpyeong, the ministry said in a statement. After analysing intelligence, the South Korean military had "confirmed that the North fired at a South Korean national found in the northern seas and cremated his body", it said. "We sternly warn North Korea that all responsibilities for this incident lie with it," it added. "Our military strongly condemns such an atrocity, and strongly demands North Korea provide explanations and punish those who are responsible," General Ahn Young-ho, who is in charge of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a briefing. It was not immediately clear how the man came to be in the water. Earlier reports said that his shoes were found on board the patrol vessel, leading to speculation he may have been trying to defect. In July, a North Korean defector who had fled to the South three years ago sneaked back over the heavily fortified border into the impoverished nation.