It appears with public anger growing against the North Korean water attack, South Korean authorities are trying to minimize the culpability of the North Koreans:

North Korea’s abrupt discharge of millions of tons of water a week ago is not seen as an intentional water attack against South Korea, a government source said Sunday, citing the results of an analysis by U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities.

Satellite photos taken before Sept. 6 have shown that water had risen to the top of the Hwanggang dam, the source said, on condition of anonymity.

“It appears that the intent was to drain water,” the source said. “But we’re still analyzing why North Korea released as much as 40 million tons of water in a single discharge in such pre-dawn hours of a Sunday.”

Recent rains could have caused the water level to rise in the North, the source added, or one of a few dozen man-made embankments behind the Hwanggang dam may have ruptured.  [Korea Times]

The water level at the dam in irrelevant because if the North Koreans wanted to launch a water attack they would of course let the water level build at the dam.  Relevant information would be the amount of rain received and how much water was being released out of the dam before the flood happened.  Also if this was just an “accident”, how many other countries in the world have “accidents” like this happen where they flood a neighboring nation and kill its citizens?  Once again this excuse just appears to be the typical minimizing of North Korea’s actions in order to not have to deal with taken tough measures against the Kim regime.

At the very minimum the South Korean government should be demanding official apologies and compensation to the families killed by this flood.