North and South Korean troops exchange fire along the border

● One day after reappearance of Kim Jong Un shots are fired but no injuries reported

North and South Korean troops yesterday exchanged fire along their tense border in the first such incident since the neighbours took unprecedented steps to lower frontline animosities in late 2018.

Violent confrontations have occasionally occurred along the world’s most heavily fortified border,

While yesterday’s incident is a reminder of persistent tensions, it didn’t cause any known casualties on either side and is unlikely to escalate, observers said.

The joint chiefs of staff in Seoul said in a statement that North Korean troops fired several bullets at a South Korean guard post inside the border zone.

South Korea responded with a total of 20 rounds of warning shots on two occasions before issuing a warning broadcast, it said.

South Korea suffered no casualties, the military said. Defence officials said it is also unlikely that North Korea had any sustained casualties, since the South Korean warning shots were fired at uninhabited North Korean territory.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency, or

KCNA, did not immediately report about the incident.

Farming activities around the North Korean area where the firing occurred continued yesterday and North Korea’s military didn’t display any other suspicious activities after the gunfire, the official said.

He said there was a thick fog in the area at the time of the incident.

After the incident South Korea sent a message to North Korea to try to avoid an escalation, but the North did not immediately reply, according to South Korea’s military.

The exchange of fire came a day after North Korea broadcast video of its leader, Kim Jong Un, reappearing in public after a 20-day absence amid intense speculation about his health.

KCNA said Kim attended Friday’s ceremony marking the completion of a fertiliser factory near Pyongyang along with senior officials. State TV showed Mr Kim smiling and walking around.

Mr Kim earlier vanished from the public eye after presiding over a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party on 11 April to discuss the coronavirus.

Speculation about his health began after he missed an event on 15 April commemorating the birthday of his grandfather and founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung.

The Korean Peninsula remains split along the 155-mile-long Demilitarized Zone created as a buffer after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The last time there was gunfire along the Korea border was in November 2017, when North Korean soldiers sprayed bullets at a colleague fleeing to South Korea.

‘After the incident South Korea sent a message to North Korea to try to avoid an escalation, but the North did not immediately reply’

SOUTH KOREAN MILITARY