South Korean troops fire warning shots after North Korean soldiers cross border

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean soldiers fired warning shots after North Korean troops briefly breached the tense border earlier this week, the South Korean military said Tuesday, as rivals are involved in Cold War type campaigns like balloon launches and propaganda broadcasts.

Bloodshed and violent clashes have sometimes occurred at the Koreas’ heavily fortified border, known as the demilitarized zone. Although Sunday’s incident occurred amid simmering tensions between the two Koreas, observers say it is unlikely to turn into another source of animosity because South Korea believes the North- Koreans did not deliberately commit the border intrusion nor did North Korea retaliate.

At 12:30 p.m. Sunday, North Korean soldiers carrying out unspecified work on the northern side of the border crossed the military demarcation line that bisects the two countries, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

North Korean soldiers carrying construction tools – some of them armed – immediately returned home after the South Korean military fired warning shots and broadcast warning messages, security chiefs said joint staff. He said North Korea had not carried out any other suspicious activities.

The South Korean military said the North Korean soldiers did not appear to have intentionally crossed the border because the site is a forested area and MDL signs were not clearly visible there, the South Korean military spokesman told reporters. Joint Chiefs of Staff Lee Sung Joon.

Lee gave no further details. But South Korean media reported that about 20 to 30 North Korean soldiers entered South Korean territory about 50 meters (165 feet) away after likely getting lost. Reports indicate that most North Korean soldiers carried pickaxes and other construction tools.

The DMZ, 248 kilometers (155 miles) long and 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) wide, is the most heavily armed border in the world. An estimated two million mines are scattered in and near the border, which is also guarded by barbed wire, tank traps and combat troops on both sides. It is a legacy of the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, which ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty.

South Korea resumed anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts from its border loudspeakers on Sunday in response to the North’s recent launches of balloons carrying manure and waste across the border. South Korea said North Korea had installed its own border loudspeakers in response, but had not yet activated them.

North Korea said its balloon campaign was a response to South Korean activists launching balloons to drop propaganda leaflets criticizing leader Kim Jong Un’s authoritarian rule, USB sticks containing K-pop songs and South Korean drama shows, as well as other articles. North Korea.

North Korea is extremely sensitive to any outside criticism of its political system because most of its 26 million people have no official access to foreign information. On Sunday evening, 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 leafleting campaigns.

The talk over loudspeakers and balloons – both Cold War-style psychological warfare – has heightened tensions between the Koreas as negotiations over the North’s nuclear ambitions have stalled for years.