The South Korean military said Tuesday it fired warning shots after about 20 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the inter-Korean border earlier this week, Yonhap News Agency reported. The North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line within the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas in the central section of the border at around 12:30 p.m. (0330 GMT) Sunday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The South’s military aired warning broadcasts and fired warning shots, prompting the North Koreans to return to their side of the border, according to the JCS. The military assessed that the North Koreans, who were working on an unspecified task inside the Demilitarized Zone, did not intentionally cross the border, considering they returned immediately after the warning shots, it said.
The incident came just hours before the South blared anti-Pyongyang broadcasts through border loudspeakers Sunday after a six-year hiatus in response to the North’s recent launches of balloons carrying garbage i
nto the South. Since May 28, the North is estimated to have sent more than 1,600 of such balloons.
The Demilitarized Zone is one of the heaviest-guarded areas in the world, with barbed wire fences and a substantial military presence along both sides. The two Koreas remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.
Source: Kuwait News Agency