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Seoul - A South Korean tourist shot dead when she apparently wandered into a North Korean military area was likely killed by a 17-year-old North Korean army recruit, a newspaper said.
Ms Park Wang Ja, 53, was shot through the back this month near the Mount Kumgang resort, just north of the heavily fortified military border separating the two Koreas.
'The intelligence we have, which still needs to be confirmed, is that the North Korean soldier who shot Park was a 17-year-old female who hasn't been in the force very long,' South Korea's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper on Monday quoted an intelligence official as saying.
Communist North Korea and the democratic South are technically still at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service could not immediately confirm the report. 'We have some questions about the report and need to run some checks,' an official said.
South Korea, which issued a fresh call for dialogue just before the July 11 shooting became known, has been angered by Pyongyang's refusal to cooperate with an investigation and has halted tours to the resort.
North Korea has blamed the South for the incident. -- REUTERS
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