SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s military fired warning shots at the weekend after some North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the border, South Korea’s military said, amid a recent rise in tension over Pyongyang’s launch of balloons carrying trash into the South.
The incursion occurred at around 12:30 p.m. (0330 GMT) on Sunday when an unspecified number of North Korean troops in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas breached the military demarcation line, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Tuesday.
“They headed north immediately after our military’s warning broadcasts and warning shots, and there were no unusual movements,” the JCS said in a statement.
The incident came as the North has sent thousands of balloons containing trash in recent days to the South, including hundreds over the weekend, calling it a response to a campaign by North Korean defectors in the South who have flown balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets in the other direction over the border.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Ed Davies; Editing by Ed Davies)
