With North Korean Soldiers Crossing the Korean Demilitarized Zone, Shots Fired

South Korean troops fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers inadvertently crossed the DMZ border amid rising tensions between the two Koreas over propaganda activities.

Seoul’s military stated that South Korean forces used weapons as a warning sign after North Korean soldiers crossed the border, which was heavily defended on the southern side on Sunday. 

It occurred in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) area where the tensions are escalating on the Korean peninsula. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, around 20 North Korean soldiers carrying pickaxes and other tools entered the southern side of the DMZ around 12:June 9th at 30 pm of the local time. 

When the South Korean guards fired shots in the air, the North Korean troops retreated and returned to their side of North Korea. The South’s military accused the North Koreans of having crossed the border inadvertently due to the overgrowth of vegetation that makes it difficult to discern the border line. 

The military said in a statement: “There is no vegetation inside [the border area] and the border markers are difficult to see.  They were in the middle of nowhere, and there was no path; they were actually swimming through the thick undergrowth. ”

This was followed by border confrontation and after this there were no more aggressions. However, it exposes the precariousness of the situation as relations between the two Koreas are still far from being friendly. 

In the last few weeks the North has been sending hundreds of propaganda balloons across the border into the South, South Korea has been using loudspeakers and its own barrage of balloons in reply. On Wednesday this week, Kim Yo Jong, the deputy to the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un raised a threat on new military action over the propaganda activities. 

Also Read: South Korea to Broadcast Anti-North Messages Amid Balloon Tensions

The border incident also includes an event when North Korea destroyed an inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong last month and shut down all communication with the South. They have been restored slowly after the collapse of the initial meeting between Kim Jong Un and then the U. S President Donald Trump in 2019.