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SEOUL: South Korea plans to raise North Korea's killing of a Seoul tourist at a high-level regional security meeting next week, a foreign ministry official said on Friday.
A soldier shot dead a 53-year-old housewife who strayed into a closed military area at the North's Mount Kumgang resort last week, further souring relations between the neighbours.
"The shooting at Mount Kumgang is a case that may affect the regional security environment. Therefore, it can be put on the agenda" at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Ministers and top officials from Asia, Europe and the United States gather in Singapore on July 24 for the security forum which includes North Korea.
Other participants including the United States, Australia and the chair Singapore are also keenly interested in the shooting and it is likely that the issue may be included in a chairman's statement, the official said.
The North, which cut official ties with Seoul earlier this year, refuses to let the South send government investigators to the scene. It blames Seoul for the tragedy, while expressing regret at the death.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan wants to meet his North Korean counterpart Pak Ui-Chun on the sidelines of the forum to urge his country to cooperate in investigating the incident, Yonhap news agency said.
The North said the woman, who was taking a dawn stroll on the beach near her hotel, had gone "beyond the clearly marked boundary fence" and intruded deep into a military area.
She allegedly refused to obey a call to halt and fled before being shot.
South Korea suspended tours to Mount Kumgang and says the ban will stay in force until Pyongyang gives firm safety guarantees.
President Lee Myung-Bak Friday chaired a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the shooting and a territorial dispute with Japan.
The meeting, the first since Lee took office in February, included the prime minister, the foreign, unification and defence ministers and the head of the National Intelligence Service.
Kumgang, which opened a decade ago, was developed and is run by South Korea's Hyundai Asan. Some critics say the company was lax in warning visitors of the potential dangers there.
Company president Yoon Man-Joon went to the east coast resort earlier this week for talks with the North's tourism officials about the shooting.
On Friday he was visiting the city of Kaesong, just north of the border near the west coast and the only other venue which ordinary South Koreans can visit in the North.
Yoon accompanied 220 tourists. He will check safety and facilities but has no plans to meet North Korean authorities, a Hyundai Asan spokesman said.
- AFP/yb
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