Pyongyang underscored its regret for the killing of a South Korean citizen by a North Korean soldier in waters near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) on Friday, but fundamentally blamed Seoul for causing the incident.

The lengthy statement published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) mentioned the word “regret” four times, but said that South Korean authorities should have prevented the 47-year old Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries official from entering DPRK waters in the first place.

Despite an investigation since the Sept. 22 incident, North Korea has been unable to “retrieve the dead body” and “return it