NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly apologised today for the killing of a South Korean official near the sea boundary between the two states.

A letter to South Korean President Moon Jae In said that State Commission Chairman Kim was “very sorry to give great disappointment to [Mr Moon] and South Korean citizens because of an unexpected, unfortunate incident,” Seoul said.

The South had accused North Korean sailors of shooting one of its officials – who South Korean intelligence speculated may have been seeking to defect to the North – and of burning his body.