North Korea accuses South of 'serious provocation' over border warning
shots
[August 23, 2025]
By KIM TONG-HYUNG
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea accused South Korea of a “serious
provocation” Saturday after South Korean troops fired warning shots at
North Korean soldiers setting up barriers along their tense border.
Ko Jong Chol, vice chief of the North Korean People’s Army’s General
Staff, noted that Tuesday’s warning shots coincided with the South
Korea-U.S. summertime military drills and accused Seoul of deliberately
trying to raise tensions.
Shortly after Ko’s statement, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff
confirmed it had fired warning shots Tuesday afternoon at North Korean
soldiers who briefly crossed the military demarcation line in the
central border region while carrying out unspecified construction work.
The South’s military said the soldiers returned to North Korean
territory without incident and that the North didn’t return fire.
In recent months, South Korea's military has occasionally used
loudspeaker warnings and fired warning shots to repel North Korean
soldiers crossing the military demarcation line. The incidents were
largely seen as accidental as North Korean troops build anti-tank
barriers, plant mines and carry out other work to reinforce border
defenses amid heightened tensions.
Ko said the North Korean soldiers were conducting a “barrier project to
permanently block the southern border,” as part of broader efforts of
“completely separating” the territory between the Koreas, when the South
responded with an audio warning and warning shots. Ko said the North had
informed U.S. forces in the South of their plans for the border work on
June 25 and July 18 to prevent accidental clashes.
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A soldier stands at a North Korean military guard post flying a
national flag, seen from Paju, South Korea, June 26, 2024. (AP
Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
“ As the commanding officer responsible for the southern border
management and security, I strongly demand (the South) to
immediately stop the dangerous provocation aimed to make the
fortification project in the southern border necessary for defending
our sovereignty an excuse for escalation of tension,” Ko said in a
statement.
Animosity between the Koreas is 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.
Citing the expansion of South Korea-U.S. military exercises and the
hard-line policies of Seoul’s previous conservative government, Kim
last year declared that North Korea was abandoning its long-standing
goals of a peaceful unification between the Koreas and ordered the
rewriting of the North’s constitution to mark the South as a
permanent enemy.
Kim’s government has so far dismissed the diplomatic overtures by
Seoul’s new liberal president, Lee Jae Myung, who said last week
that Seoul would seek to restore a 2018 inter-Korean military
agreement aimed at reducing border tensions, while urging Pyongyang
to reciprocate by rebuilding trust and resuming dialogue.
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