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N. Korea Raises Military Tensions with Sunday's Exchange of Fire
2014-10-20 Updated.
 
Anchor: Following the agreement made in early October to hold another round of high-level inter-Korean talks, North Korea soon began to raise military tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Most recently on Sunday, the North returned fire at the South Korean military’s warning shots at the Military Demarcation Line near the border city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more on the North’s continued provocations.  
 
Report: The mood for inter-Korean dialogue that was created after a delegation of senior officials from North Korea visited South Korea earlier on October 5 has been affected by a series of provocations by the North.
 
Shortly after agreeing to hold high-level inter-Korean talks, a North Korean patrol boat violated the Northern Limit Line (NLL) on October 7 and fired at balloons carrying anti-regime pamphlets on October 10.
 
Most recently on Sunday, the two Koreas exchanged fire at the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), located six kilometers west of the truce village of Panmunjeom.
 
An official of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the exchange of fire came after some North Korean soldiers approached the MDL and fired back at the warning shots fired by the South.
 
The incident came just a day after North Korean soldiers approached the MDL and withdrew after South Korea’s military fired warning shots.
 
A JCS official said Sunday marked the first time this year for the North to fire back at the South Korean military’s warning shots. The official said the North’s military appears to be engaging in provocations at the MDL to check out the South Korean military’s response posture.
 
Some observers point out that the provocations are aimed at expressing the North’s dissatisfaction with the inter-Korean military contacts held last week and to have the upper hand by raising tensions ahead of a second round of high-level South-North talks set to soon take place.
 
Sunday's exchange of fire also coincided with a report by the North's media that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a military base for the first time since his return from his 40-day absence from the public view.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News. 
 
 
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