South Korea says warning shots fired after North Korean troops crossed Military Demarcation Line
North Korea on Saturday said South Korea opened fire at Pyongyang's soldiers on the border earlier this week, while also criticizing Seoul's joint drill with the US.
North Korean army's vice-chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Ko Jong Chol said that South Korean soldiers on Tuesday fired more than 10 warning shots with a 12.7 mm large-caliber machine gun at the North Korean soldiers who were conducting a permanent barrier project near the southern border line, according to a statement published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Saturday.
South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said the military fired warning shots on Tuesday after North Korean troops crossed the Military Demarcation Line, according to Yonhap News.
"This is a very serious prelude that would inevitably drive the situation in the southern border area, where a huge number of forces are stationed in confrontation with each other, to the uncontrollable phase," said Ko.
Notification about the construction was given beforehand "to prevent misunderstanding and accidental conflict," said Ko, adding that the North Korean army "is keeping tabs on the present situation."
"The recent incident, timed to coincide with the large-scale joint military drills being staged in the region of the ROK (South Korea), cannot but be construed as a premeditated and deliberate provocation aimed at military conflict from A to Z," said Ko, referring to the 11-day annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise by South Korea and the US that began on Monday.
Ko "strongly demanded" the cessation of such "dangerous provocation."
"If the act of restraining or obstructing the project unrelated to the military character persists, our army will regard it as deliberate military provocation and take corresponding countermeasures," he said.
In a separate statement, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army called the Ulchi Freedom Shield "a reckless war drill of the US and the ROK warmongers," which pushes the situation on the Korean peninsula and in the region "to extreme tension."
