South Korean troops fire warning shots after North’s soldiers cross border

South Korea’s military fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers crossed the rivals’ tense border, South Korean officials said.

South Korea’s military said in a statement that about 10 North Korean soldiers returned to the North after South Korea made warning broadcasts and fired warning shots.

It said the North Korean soldiers violated the military demarcation line at the eastern section of the border at 5pm.

South Korea’s military said it is closely monitoring North Korean activities.

Bloodshed and violent confrontations have occasionally occurred at the Koreas’ heavily fortified border, called the Demilitarised Zone.

But when North Korean troops briefly violated the border in June last year and prompted South Korea to fire warning shots, it did not escalate into a major source of tensions.

South Korean officials assessed that the soldiers didn’t deliberately commit the border intrusion and the site was a wooded area and military demarcation line signs there were not clearly visible.

South Korea said the North Koreans were carrying construction tools.

The motive for Tuesday’s border crossing by North Korean soldiers was not immediately clear.

The 155-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide DMZ is the world’s most heavily armed border.

An estimated two million mines are peppered inside and near the border, which is also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides.

It is a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Animosities between the Koreas are running high now as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to flaunt his military nuclear capabilities and align with Russia over President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

Mr Kim is also ignoring calls by Seoul and Washington to resume denuclearisation negotiations.

Since his January 20 inauguration, US President Donald Trump has said he would reach out to Mr Kim again to revive diplomacy.

North Korea has not responded to Mr Trump’s remarks and says US hostilities against it have deepened since Mr Trump’s inauguration.

South Korea, meanwhile, is experiencing a leadership vacuum after the ousting of President Yoon Suk Yeol last week over his ill-fated imposition of martial law.