Pyongyang [North Korea], August 23 (ANI): North Korea on Saturday accused South Korean forces of firing warning shots at its soldiers who were part of a border reinforcement project, warning that Seoul’s actions risk raising tensions to “uncontrollable” levels, Al Jazeera reported.
In a report published Saturday, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Korean People’s Army Vice Chief of the General Staff Ko Jong Chol as saying the South should stop its “premeditated and deliberate” provocation, which he described as “inciting military conflict,” according to Al Jazeera.
Calling the incident from earlier this week a “serious provocation,” Ko said the South Korean military fired more than 10 warning shots toward North Korean troops.
“This is a very serious prelude that would inevitably drive the situation in the southern border area, where a huge number of forces are stationed in confrontation with each other, to the uncontrollable phase,” Al Jazeera quoted Ko as saying.
The incident took place Tuesday as North Korean soldiers were working to permanently seal the heavily fortified border that divides the peninsula, KCNA said, citing a statement from Ko.
In a statement Saturday, the South Korean military acknowledged that its soldiers fired warning shots after it claimed North Korean troops briefly crossed the border.
“Some North Korean soldiers operating near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) within the central frontline DMZ [Demilitarized Zone] crossed the MDL, prompting our military to fire warning shots,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, referring to the de facto border. “The North Korean soldiers then moved north of the MDL,” the statement added.
The reported firing of warning shots is the latest confrontation between North and South Korean forces, who have been at odds for decades over the heavily guarded border dividing the two nations. The last border clash between the rivals was in early April when South Korea’s military fired warning shots after a group of 10 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the border, Al Jazeera reported. (ANI)
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