SEOUL: The Republic of Korea (ROK) rejected the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) explanation for a sudden, deadly release of dam water, saying yesterday that Pyongyang should clarify and apologize for flooding that left six ROK people dead or missing.

The DPRK said in its message on Monday that it "urgently" had to release dammed water to a river flowing across the border between Saturday night and Sunday morning because the water level was too high. The release caused Imjin River's level to double on Sunday, sweeping away six ROK people camping and fishing near the border dividing the two countries.

"North Korea's (DPRK) message is not the level we can understand and we think it is very regrettable because it did not have any mention of our serious human casualties," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung told reporters yesterday.