Koreans Fire Five Rounds on DMZ

North, South Korea Exchange Gunfire

VoA News: South Korea says its troops exchanged gunfire Friday with North Korea across their heavily guarded demilitarized zone.

South Korean officials say two shots were fired from a North Korean guard post and that South Korean troops immediately returned fire with three shots. The skirmish occurred near the border in Hwacheon, 118 kilometers northeast of Seoul.

There were no South Korean injuries in the incident, and it was not immediately clear what sparked it. The two Koreas, still technically at war after signing only a truce to halt hostilities after the 1950-to-1953 Korean War, have periodically engaged in such brief attacks.

The incident came hours after North Korea warned the South it would face “catastrophic impact” if it continues to reject military talks with the North.

The exchange of gunfire was not expected to stall Saturday’s planned reunion of hundreds of families that had been separated by the Korean War.

The first inter-Korean military talks in two years broke down in September after the North refused to accept the finding of a multinational investigation that blamed the March 26 sinking of the South Korean patrol boat Cheonan on Pyongyang. The torpedo attack on the ship killed 46 sailors.

North Korea offered to hold a second round of talks on October 22, but the South rejected the offer, citing no change in the North’s attitude