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| The view over the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) from a guard post in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province, Oct. 17, 2018. Korea Times file |
By Jung Da-min
A South Korean guard post in a central section of the demilitarized zone was hit by at least four bullets fired from North Korea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Sunday.
The shots were a clear violation of an inter-Korean military agreement under which the two Koreas halted all hostile activities at the border, but do not seem to have been fired intentionally, the JCS added.
According to the JCS, a guard at the post heard multiple gunshots around 7: 41 a.m. and found four bullet holes on the outer wall. There were no casualties and no significant damage to the military facility.
The shots came two days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was seen in public for the first time in 20 days visiting a fertilizer factory in Sunchon, South Pyongan Province, Friday. However, the military sees no link between the two events.
"Our military fired two rounds of warning shots, about 10 shots each time, and also broadcast warnings to the North Koreans," a military official said. He said the military response was made under the direction of a commander at the site and was according to standard operating procedure for a violation of the inter-Korean military demarcation line (MDL).
He said although the military sees the shots from North Korea as a breach of the Sept. 19 Comprehensive Military Agreement signed by the defense chiefs of the two Koreas in 2018 in Pyongyang on the sidelines of the third inter-Korean summit, it is still evaluating if this was a "military provocation."
"At the time the guard heard the shots, visibility was poor as there was a thick fog. It was also around the time of a guard change by the North Koreans when they check their weapons," the official said. "Before and after, and at the time of the shots, ordinary farming activities were still carrying on nearby."
He said visibility from the post was less than a kilometer, while three nearby guard posts in the North across the MDL are a respective 1.5, 1.7 and 1.9 kilometers from the guard post in the South hit by the shots. The official added these were not the ideal circumstances for a military provocation.
According to the JCS, a message was sent to the North Koreans at 9:35 a.m. through the military hotline ― under the name of the South's chief delegate to inter-Korean military talks ― asking for an explanation about the incident, but there has been no response so far.
The military said the incident is under investigation and the bullets found at the site were being analyzed.
