South Korea asks for assistance

Seoul: South Korea plans to ask the US and other countries to pressure North Korea to cooperate in a probe into the shooting death of a Seoul tourist in the North, an official said on Thursday.

The South Korean government plans to relay its request to countries participating in an annual security forum in Singapore next week, an official at the South Korean Foreign Ministry said.

"We are already in consultations with other countries on the issue," he said.

The Asean Regional Forum meeting in Singapore will bring together more than 20 countries, including the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, Russia, the US and the European Union.

However, the official said South Korea had no plan to directly ask North Korean officials attending the forum to allow South Korean investigators into the country to examine the shooting.