North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / Korea Times file

By Kang Seung-woo

North Korea's unexpected apology over its killing of a South Korean civil servant earlier this week shows the totalitarian state does not want the issue to interfere with inter-Korean reconciliation, according to Pyongyang watchers, Friday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has apologized to the South Korean people for the death of the South Korean official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, leaving experts scrambling to analyze the rare acknowledgement and apology.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, Friday, the North conveyed Kim's message that he feels "very sorry" for greatly "disappointing" President Moon Jae-in and other South Koreans with the "unsavory" case in his country's waters.

The presidential office added that the North was informing the South of the results of its own probe into what happened, in the notice sent by the United Front Department, the North's ruling Workers' Party organ handling inter-Korean relations.

"I think the message is intended to prevent the incident from developing into a more serious matter between the two Koreas," said Kim Jung, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.