Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have taken a dangerous turn
South Korea says it fired “warning shots” after North Korean soldiers allegedly crossed the border. The incident comes amid heightened tensions between neighboring Korean states as tit-for-tat actions intensified after North Korea sent garbage-filled balloons to the South.
South Korea's military said it fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the border this week, amid rising tensions after Pyongyang sent garbage balloons to the South and Seoul responded with a propaganda campaign over loudspeakers, The Guardian reported.
«Some North Korean soldiers working in the demarcation zone on the central front briefly crossed the Military Demarcation Line,» the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to the line of control on the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas.
“After our military issued warning radio broadcasts and fired warning shots, they retreated north,” South Korean security officials said in a statement, adding that the incident occurred on June 9.
“Except There was no immediate retreat of North Korean soldiers after our warning shots, and no unusual movements were observed,” the JCS said, adding that the military is closely monitoring troops near the border.
South Korea's military concluded that the North Korean soldiers did not appear to have crossed the border intentionally because the area was in a wooded area and military demarcation line signs there were difficult to see, JCS spokesman Lee Sung-jun told reporters.
The mined demilitarized zone is the world's most heavily armed border, where hundreds of thousands of troops stand face to face — a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in an armistice but not a peace treaty, The Guardian recalls.
Tensions between the two Koreas, which technically remain at war, have reached some of their highest levels in years.
North Korea has sent hundreds of balloons filled with cigarette butts, manure and toilet paper in recent weeks. south of the border in what she calls retaliation for anti-Penyan propaganda balloons sent by southern activists.
The South Korean government this month completely suspended the 2018 military deal and resumed propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers along the border in response to the balloons, infuriating the North, which warned Seoul of creating a «new crisis.»
The South Korean military said Monday it had detected signs that the North was installing its own loudspeakers.
North Korea has used loudspeakers along the border since the 1960s, usually broadcasting praise for the ruling Kim family, but suspended their use in 2018 year as relations improve, The Guardian notes.
Experts warn that the decision to abandon the 2018 agreement and resume broadcasts over loudspeakers could have serious consequences.
Previous propaganda campaigns "oko for an eye» had real consequences for inter-Korean relations.
In 2020, Pyongyang, blaming anti-North Korean leaflets, unilaterally cut off all official military and political channels of communication with the South and blew up the inter-Korean liaison office on its side of the border.