Korean troops exchange border fire
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Monday, July 31, 2006; Posted: 9:36 p.m. EDT (01:36 GMT)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Soldiers from North Korea and South Korea exchanged fire along their border late Monday, but no one was hurt, a South Korean military official said Tuesday.
The incident happened shortly before sunset when North Korean soldiers fired two bullets towards a South Korean guard post in the eastern part of the Demilitarized Zone, said Maj. Kim Tae-hoon of the Joint Chiefs of Staff office.
South Korean soldiers immediately fired back six rounds, Kim said.
He said South Korea does not know what prompted the North troops to open fire and the secretive communist country has not said anything to the South about it.
The U.N. Military Armistice Commission, which supervises the cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, will asked the North on Tuesday for an explanation of the incident.
The fighting ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, meaning that the two Koreas are still technically in a state of conflict.
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SEOUL : A brief exchange of gunfire erupted between South and North Korean troops on the heavily fortified inter-Korean border, but no casualties were reported, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Tuesday.
The shootout occurred at 7:35pm (1035 GMT) on Monday in Yanggu, 175 kilometres (108 miles) northeast of Seoul, on the border, the office said in a statement.
"North Korean soldiers first fired two bullets at a South Korean guard post which immediately fired back six shots at them," a JCS spokesman said.
"No more gunfire followed. There were no casulties on our side."
One of the two North Korean bullets hit the wall of the South's post, but caused no damage to equipment there, he added.
It was not immediately known what triggered the incident and whether there were any casulties on the North Korean side.
The two Koreas have been technically at war since the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, rather than a peace treaty.
Shooting incidents at the border are rare.
Three years ago South Korean troops returned fire after North Koreans unleashed several bursts of machine gun fire. No casualties were reported.
New tensions have flared up since North Korea defiantly test-fired seven ballistic missiles on July 5 and sparked UN Security Council condemnation and weapons-related sanctions on the communist state.
The provocative missile test also strained inter-Korean ties, which have steadily improved since a 2000 peace summit between the leaders of both Koreas.
Seoul suspended its rice and other humanitarian aid to its impoverished northern neighbor in protest at the missile tests.
North Korea has also been locked in a prolonged standoff with the United States and its allies over its nuclear weapons programme. - AFP/ch
Personally, the north is trying to provoke again but hopefully nothing comes out of this incident. -
scarlee its just a simple case of NK soldier rifle misfire
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sometimes i just wish they can just go to war and get over it. (of cuz i dun really mean it)
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i really hate the north koreans.. everytime wanna stir sh!t..
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Unlikely, because the 2 shots ended up on the wall of the South Korean guardOriginally posted by Curry Crab:scarlee its just a simple case of NK soldier rifle misfire
post. A bit too accurate for misfires.
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wah, for so many years, with rifles fully loaded, eyeballing each other just a few meters across each other, can even smell each other's breath type. No wonder, tension so high, got such "accidents" not surprising.
Just hope the commanders don't get overly excited and escalate things... -
It pretty common for the two koreas to exchange gunfire every now and then, afterall the north and south are technically still at war.
One famous incident that occured at the JSA (joint security area) was the poplar tree incident in which 2 unarmed US officers were murdered by the north koreans.
This in turn led to operation paul buyan and almost triggered a second korean war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paul_Bunyan