North and South Korea exchanges fire

In an escalation of the tense situation in the region, North and South Korea exchanged fire over their heavily fortified border Thursday, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.

South Korea detected a projectile, assumed to be a small rocket, that was fired toward the western province of Gyeonggi, a Defense Ministry official told CNN. The South Korean military responded by firing a few dozen shells at the area from which the North Korean projectile was fired, the official said.

The U.S. believes North Korea deliberately placed mines in the path of a South Korean patrol in the demilitarized zone between the two countries, sparking the exchanges, the official said. Tensions spiked on the Korean Peninsula after two South Korean soldiers were seriously wounded by landmines on August 4 in the demilitarized zone.

Seoul vowed a “harsh” response to the landmines and resumed blaring propaganda messages over the border from huge loudspeakers. The move infuriated North Korea, which called the broadcasting “a direct action of declaring a war.” Over the weekend, it warned of “indiscriminate strikes.”

[CNN]

This entry was posted in DPRK Government by Grant Montgomery.