Gunfire Exchanged Between North & South Korea Declared 'Likely Unintentional'

Gunfire Exchanged Between North & South Korea Declared 'Likely Unintentional'

The world breathed a collective sigh of relief after an incredibly dangerous exchange of gunfire took place at the Korean border, a mere day after Kim Jong Un resurfaced publicly for the first time in some 20 days.

South and North Korea are reportedly talking via military resolution channels after the shots rang out across Demilitarized Zone on Sunday, said to be initiated from a North Korean post. Crucially, in the hours after the incident South Korean state media is declaring that it was likely unintentional. Yonhap news agency reports:

Several gunshots from North Korea hit a South Korean guard post inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Sunday, prompting the South to fire back, but the North's firings do not appear to have been intentional, an official said.

Military guard post in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, via AP.

It's the first such direct exchange of gunfire since 2017 along what is by far the most militarized border in the world.

The DMZ is a 155-mile long buffer zone, at any given time said to have nearly two million troops on both sides, complete with guard posts and mine fields. 

Yonhap continues of the alarming incident, which now appears to be calm: 

South Korean soldiers on guard duty at the unit in the central border town of Cheorwon heard gunshots at around 7:41 a.m. and found four bullet marks on a wall of the guard post, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In accordance with the response manual, the military then fired a total of 20 shots in response -- 10 rounds each time -- and issued broadcast warnings, it added. No casualties or damage to South Korean facilities were reported.

It is not known if North Korea sustained any damage.

DMZ border posts, via AP

The frightening incident - in terms of prospects of triggering a major war on the peninsula - came a day after North Korea broadcast a video of Kim Jong Un paying a public visit to a fertilizer factory in Suncheon, ending prior rampant speculation about his health after prior reports of complications following heart surgery.

Pyongyang has vehemently denied both that he's recently suffered any health complications or that he had heart surgery in the first place.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/03/2020 - 09:13
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Gunfire Exchanged Between North & South Korea Declared 'Likely Unintentional'