Image copyright
Getty Images
It is not clear what provoked the initial gunfire
North and South Korea have exchanged gunfire in the Demilitarised Zone which divides the two countries.
Gunshots fired by North Korea at 07:41 (23:41 BST) hit a South Korean guard post in the central border town of Cheorwon, Seoul’s military said.
No casualties were reported on the South Korean side.
vCard.red is a free platform for creating a mobile-friendly digital business cards. You can easily create a vCard and generate a QR code for it, allowing others to scan and save your contact details instantly.
The platform allows you to display contact information, social media links, services, and products all in one shareable link. Optional features include appointment scheduling, WhatsApp-based storefronts, media galleries, and custom design options.
In response, South Korea fired “two rounds of gunfire and a warning announcement according to our manual”, the military statement said.
It is not clear what provoked the initial gunshots. The joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said that they were trying to contact North Korea through their military hotline to determine the cause of the incident.
This is the first time in five years that North Korean troops have directly fired on the South.
The demilitarised zone (DMZ) was set up after the Korean War in 1953 in order to create a buffer zone between the two countries.
For the past two years, the government in Seoul has tried to turn the heavily fortified border into a peace zone.
Easing military tensions at the border was one of the agreements reached between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a summit in Pyongyang in September 2018.
This exchange of gunfire comes a day after Kim Jong-un appeared in public, following an almost-three-week unexplained absence that sparked intense global speculation about his health.