Anchor: North Korea has yet to respond to an offer South Korea made on Sunday to jointly investigate the shooting death of a South Korean fisheries ministry official who was adrift in the West Sea last week. Instead, North Korea has warned South Korea not to trespass into its territorial waters as the South searches for the body of the slain official. The warning has triggered concerns over another potential naval clash along the disputed maritime border separating the two Koreas.
Sam Len reports.

Report: North Korea remained silent on Monday over a proposal by South Korea to conduct a joint investigation into the recent killing of a South Korean official.

Suh Choo-suk, deputy director of the presidential national security office, told reporters on Sunday that the South proposed a joint investigation with the North into the shooting death. 

South Korea also asked North Korea to reconnect a military hotline the North severed last summer in protest against propaganda leaflets flown across the border by South Korean civic groups.

[Sound bite: Deputy Director of Presidential Office National Security Office Suh Choo-suk (Korean/English translation)] 
"We positively assess the North's speedy apology and pledge not to repeat such incidents. We requested a joint investigation to find the truth, since there are differences in the details and facts in the announcements made by the South and North. We hope that the two countries are not hindered by their respective announcements and will seek out the truth together. We request the reopening of the military hotline in order to exchange information. We need to place top priority on recovering the body and belongings of the official in order to get to the truth and in consideration of the bereaved family members. We hope the South and North will dedicate all efforts into conducting searches in their territorial waters and cooperate by exchanging the necessary information."

South Korea has been searching for the body of the 47-year-old fisheries official shot and killed by North Korean soldiers last week after he drifted into their waters near the West Sea border between the two sides. 

Just two days after issuing a rare apology for the shooting death, North Korea made an about-face on Sunday and accused South Korea of violating North Korean waters while searching for the body and called for an immediate halt to the intrusion.

[Sound bite: Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) (Korean/English translation)] 
"...according to our Western Fleet, the South side has mobilized many naval vessels and other ships on what appears to be search missions and have intruded into our territorial waters. Such actions by the South are triggering our vigilance and raises the prospects of another unsavory incident. We do not care what types of search missions the South side conducts in its waters. But we cannot overlook any incursion into our territorial waters and issue a stern warning against such acts. We demand that the South immediately cease unauthorized incursions into the West Sea Military Demarcation Line that could trigger fresh tensions."

The Northern Limit Line or NLL serves as the de-facto maritime border separating the two Koreas on the West Sea. But North Korea has long disputed the NLL by accusing it of being drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command after the 1950-53 Korean War. Instead, the North has marked its own maritime border further south of the NLL.
Sam Len, KBS World Radio News