SEOUL, South Korea — A day after a tense shootout, troops on Monday tightened a cordon around a South Korean soldier who killed five comrades at an outpost near the border with North Korea.
Yonhap news agency reported that the sergeant, identified only by his surname Yim, had been captured, but an official at Seoul’s Defense Ministry said troops were still trying to persuade Yim to surrender. Yonhap later corrected its report to say that he had not been captured.
Yim’s parents were brought to the forest about 6 miles from the border outpost to talk to him, according to the Defense Ministry official who asked not to be named, citing department rules.
One platoon leader was wounded when Yim fired Sunday on the military personnel closing in on him, the official said. Troops fired back. Villagers in the area were warned not to leave their houses.
