North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the border with South Korea on Sunday, whose soldiers fired warning shots, the South Korean General Staff (JCS) announced on Tuesday. “North Korean soldiers working inside the DMZ on the central front briefly crossed the military demarcation line. After our army broadcast warning messages and fired warning shots, they withdrew towards the north,” the JCS said in a statement, referring to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two enemy states.
“Apart from the immediate retreat of North Korean soldiers after our warning shots, no unusual movements were observed,” added the JCS.
Tense period between the two countries
The North and South Korean sides of the 4 km wide DMZ are heavily fortified but the demarcation line itself, located in the middle of the zone, is marked only by simple signs. Clashes between soldiers from the two camps who patrol there break out from time to time.
Sunday’s incident came amid some of the most tense relations between the north and south in years. Pyongyang has in recent weeks sent hundreds of balloons weighted with trash such as cigarette butts, toilet paper, and even animal excrement, to its southern neighbor, in what it describes as a response to the spread propaganda, in particular by leaflets or USB keys, against the North Korean regime by South Korean activists.
