South Korea Tuesday demanded an apology and further explanation from North Korea after a dam discharged a wall of water into a cross-border river, sweeping away six people in the South, AFP reported.
Sunday's tragedy threatened to damage improving cross-border relations, with some newspapers voicing suspicions that the deadly water surge was intentional.
Millions of cubic meters was released from the North's Hwanggang dam into the Imjin River, briefly swelling it to twice its normal depth and carrying away five campers and a fisherman. Three bodies have been found so far. Police also found the body of a North Korean boy aged four or five which apparently drifted down river following the same incident.
In response to the South's complaint, the North late Monday blamed a sudden surge in the dam's water level for the "emergency" release and promised to give prior warning of any future water discharges.
Seoul officials said there had been no heavy rain in the North in recent days to explain such a surge, and noted its communist neighbor failed to express regret for the victims.
"The government demands that North Korean authorities give a full account and an apology for having caused casualties to our citizens in the sudden discharge," Chun Hae-sung, spokesman for the unification ministry which handles cross-border ties, was quoted as saying.
Chun criticized the North's response.
"The government feels it very regrettable that it did not comment at all on the serious casualties we've had," he said, adding Seoul also "can hardly understand" Pyongyang's explanation.
Asked at a briefing if the surge may have been deliberate, Chun said it was hard for him to judge Pyongyang's intentions.