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Gunfire Believed From North Korea Hits South Border Post

Posted on: Friday, 28 October 2005, 12:00 CDT

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

Seoul, 28 October: Gunfire believed to be from North Korea hit a South Korean guard post inside the demilitarized zone late Friday [28 October], but there were no casualties, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. South Korean soldiers immediately returned several rounds of fire to the North but received no response, the JCS said in a statement.

The incident took place at a South Korean frontline post on the eastern section of the 248-km border around 7 p.m., it said. "So far, North Korea hasn't sent any message regarding the gunfire. But we believe the shot was fired from North Korea and it was an accidental firing," said Col Won Tae-je, a JCS spokesman by phone.

It was not immediately known which part of the South Korean post was hit and by what kind of bullet. The 4-km-wide mine-strewn demilitarized zone forms a buffer between the two Koreas which have been divided since 1945. Clashes along the inter-Korean border are rare as the two Koreas have been pushing reconciliation since their leaders held a summit in Pyongyang in 2000.

In 2003, South and North Korean soldiers briefly exchanged machine gun fire across the border. North Korean soldiers started the shoot out by firing what appeared to be four rounds, and South Korean soldiers returned 17 rounds, according to the office. There were no reports of casualties in that clash.

Source: BBC Monitoring Newsfile

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