(UnitedVoice.com) – Russian President Vladimir Putin recently met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for an important summit. The two men inked a bilateral defense agreement. But before they met, shots were fired at the North Korean border with South Korea.
On June 18, between 20 and 30 North Korean soldiers were doing construction work along the border. The workers crossed the military demarcation line in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The South Korean military responded by firing warning shots and broadcast warnings to alert the soldiers that they’d crossed the line.
According to reports, the North Korean soldiers retreated. South Korean forces inspected the area but didn’t find any evidence of suspicious activity after the incident. The South doesn’t believe the border crossing was intentional.
The DMZ is heavily armed. There are barbed wire fences, tank traps, thousands of troops, and two million mines. The area is also very overgrown. There are bushes and trees all over the area, and it appears the foliage may have prevented the North Korean soldiers from seeing signs marking the line of demarcation.
The incident marked the second time in as many weeks that North Korean soldiers crossed into the South. The first incident took place on June 11 and also involved soldiers who were doing work along the North Korean border. South Korea broadcast warnings and fired warning shots after the soldiers, who were carrying tools, crossed into the country. The South believes the soldiers missed the signs marking the line in that situation as well.
Tensions between the two nations have heated up in recent weeks. Both countries have made it clear they aren’t bound by a 2018 military agreement any longer. The construction workers on the North Korean side have reportedly been fortifying the border even more by adding more anti-tank barriers and mines. There have been explosions by mines that have wounded and killed some of the soldiers, but the work has continued.
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