North Korea lashed out at South Korea on Thursday for shooting and killing a man earlier this month who tried to defect to the communist nation.

 The South Korean man, 47, identified by his surname Nam, was shot dead on Sept. 16 while trying to swim across a border river to North Korea after ignoring warnings from border guards to turn back. Officials said the guards acted in accordance with guidelines.

 The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea denounced the killing.

  "The (South's) regime is made up of barbarians in human form as they ruthlessly killed the bare-handed innocent inhabitant who tried to enter the northern half of Korea in quest of a way of living," the North's committee said.

  "The puppet authorities should thoroughly probe the truth about the merciless killing of the innocent inhabitant and sternly punish those involved in it," it said in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency. (Yonhap News)