A North Korean soldier stands at a military guard post flying the national flag, as seen from Paju, South Korea, June 26, 2024. Image Credit: AP
(The Post News) – On Saturday, North Korea called South Korea’s warning shots a “deliberate provocation” after Seoul confirmed it had opened fire at North Korean soldiers who crossed the border earlier in the week.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, several North Korean troops working on construction in the border region crossed the Military Demarcation Line within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) on Tuesday afternoon. Soldiers withdrew to their side of the border after warning shots were fired. North Korean state media claimed that South Korean forces used a machine gun to fire over 10 warning shots.
Army Lt Gen Ko Jong Chol said the incident was “provocation” that risks escalating “uncontrollable” tensions. He points out that tensions already run high along the southern border, where opposing forces face each other in large numbers.
The reports come as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung departed from Seoul this Saturday. He is currently having his first official visits as President in Tokyo and Washington.
Lee campaigned on improving inter-Korean relations, including restoring a 2018 military agreement to ease border tensions. However, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, recently rejected his outreach efforts.
Seoul sought to ease tensions earlier this year by halting its loudspeaker broadcasts across the border. However, Pyongyang was also dismissive of this olive branch act. North Korea has long viewed the broadcasts as propaganda and an act of war, even threatening to destroy the equipment in the past.
The DMZ, is an infamous and heavily militarised buffer zone created at the end of the Korean War in 1953. Intrusions in the area have often triggered clashes and heightened tensions between the two states. North and South Korea remain technically at war, having signed a ceasefire but never a formal peace treaty.
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