S Korea says tourist shooting 'unimaginable', calls on North to come clean

Seoul: South Korea said on Sunday it was "unimaginable" for a North Korean soldier to shoot dead an unarmed housewife holidaying at a resort in the North, calling on it to come clean over the incident that took place last Friday.

The shooting occurred at the Mount Kumgang resort, on the east coast a few kilometres north of the heavily fortified border. The woman, 53, was the first tourist killed by the North.

The resort, opened in 1998 and visited by nearly 2 million South Koreans, was hailed as a milestone in reconciliation between the two states technically still at war.

North Korea has not cooperated with efforts to investigate the death, a Seoul official said on Saturday, as the South's leader escalated criticism of the killing.

North Korea said it regrets the death, but blames the South for the incident.