South Korean soldiers open fire after North Korean troops cross border in major escalation of simmering tensions
11 June 2024, 12:54
South Korean troops opened fire recently after North Korean soldiers crossed the border, in a major escalation of hostilities between the neighbouring countries.
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The longstanding tensions between the two countries have been heightened in recent weeks, with South Korea transmitting aggressive propaganda broadcasts in response to North Korea holding bizarre stunts.
The two countries have a dividing demilitarised zone (DMZ) between them, in the middle of which is the military demarcation line (MDL), which serves as the border.
The incursion across the border by about 30 North Korean troops working in the DMZ took place at about 12.30pm local time on Sunday. South Korean troops fired warning shots in response, and the North Koreans did not return fire.
The South Korean government does not believe the border crossing was a deliberate act of aggression by North Korea.
Read more: North Korea dumps 260 balloons filled with 'excrement' and rubbish on South
"Some North Korean soldiers working within the DMZ on the central front briefly crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL)," the South Korean joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said.
"After our military issued warning broadcasts and warning shots, they retreated northward."
Some of the North Korean troops were carrying construction tools, while others were armed.
The area that the North Koreans crossed is wooded and the MDL is difficult to identify, according to JCS spokesperson Lee Sung Joon. Local media reported that the soldiers had probably got lost.
Lee said: "We believe that they did not intend to invade, considering that they immediately moved northward after the warning broadcasts and warning shots."
The 155-mile long DMZ is the world's most heavily guarded border. It also contains an estimated two million mines.
The two countries were created by the Korean War, which lasted from June 1950-July 1953.
Korea had been part of the Japanese Empire before the Second World War, and was subsequently divided by the US and the Soviet Union.
Although there were plans for it to become its own single, independent country, both South and North Korea formed their own governments in the late 1940s.
North Korea invaded the South in 1950 and the two fought a bloody war, supported by China and the UN respectively, that ended with an armistice in 1953 and the formation of the DMZ.
On Sunday, South Korea resumed anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts from its border loudspeakers in response to the North's recent launches of balloons carrying manure and rubbish across the border.
South Korea said North Korea has installed its own border loudspeakers in response but has not turned them on yet.
North Korea has said its balloon campaign was in response to South Korean activists' launches of their own balloons to drop propaganda leaflets critical of leader Kim Jong Un's authoritarian rule, USB sticks with K-pop songs and South Korean drama shows, and other items in North Korea.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its political system, as most of its 26 million people have no official access to foreign news.
On Sunday night, Mr Kim's sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, warned of "a new response" if South Korea continued its loudspeaker broadcasts and refused to stop civilian leafletting campaigns.
The tit-for-tat over speakers and balloons - both Cold War-style psychological warfare - has deepened tensions between the Koreas as talks over the North's nuclear ambitions have remained stalled for years.
