South Korea says its military fired warning shots after North Korean
soldiers crossed the border
[April 08, 2025]
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
SEOUL,
South Korea (AP) — South Korea's military fired warning shots after
North Korean soldiers crossed the rivals' tense border on Tuesday, South
Korean officials said. |
South Korean army soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence in Paju,
South Korea, near the border with North Korea, on Feb. 18, 2025. (AP
Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File) |
|
South Korea’s military said in a statement that about 10 North
Korean soldiers returned to the North after South Korea made
warning broadcasts and fired warning shots. It said the North
Korean soldiers violated the military demarcation line at the
eastern section of the border at 5 p.m.
South Korea's military said it is closely monitoring North
Korean activities.
Bloodshed and violent confrontations have occasionally occurred
at the Koreas’ heavily fortified border, called the
Demilitarized Zone. But when North Korean troops briefly
violated the border in June last year and prompted South Korea
to fire warning shots, it didn't escalate into a major source of
tensions. South Korean officials assessed that the soldiers
didn't deliberately commit the border intrusion and the site was
a wooded area and military demarcation line signs there weren’t
clearly visible. South Korea said the North Koreans were
carrying construction tools.
The motive for Tuesday's border crossing by North Korean
soldiers wasn't immediately clear.
The 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide
DMZ is the world’s most heavily armed border. An estimated 2
million mines are peppered inside and near the border, which is
also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops
on both sides. It’s a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which
ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Animosities between the Koreas are running high now as North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to flaunt his military
nuclear capabilities and align with Russia over President
Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. Kim is also ignoring calls by
Seoul and Washington to resume denuclearization negotiations.
Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, U.S. President Donald Trump has
said he would reach out to Kim again to revive diplomacy. North
Korea has not responded to Trump’s remarks and says U.S.
hostilities against it have deepened since Trump’s inauguration.
South Korea, meanwhile, is experiencing a leadership vacuum
after the ouster of President Yoon Suk Yeol last week over his
ill-fated imposition of martial law. __
Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this
report.
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