ADMIN
The first shots were fired after troops crossed the border last week. Now there are reports of casualties in landmines.
On Tuesday, South Korea's military fired warning shots again as North Korean troops breached the border separating hostile nations for the second time this month ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's arrival in Pyongyang for a summit with Kim Jong Un.
In what appears to be a separate incident, military authorities in Seoul also announced on Tuesday that several North Korean soldiers serving in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the countries have recently been injured or killed by “several landmine explosions” in the area, according to The Yonhap News Agency.
A large number of North Korean troops have been arriving in frontline areas since April, where they have worked to build roads, build walls and plant mines, according to the news agency. It is not clear when the blast occurred or how many soldiers were injured.
“The North Korean military appears to be stepping up its work despite creating barren terrain in frontline areas and detonating several mines during landmine operations,” an unnamed official of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) told local media. NK News.
About 20 to 30 North Korean soldiers carrying work equipment began crossing the military demarcation line inside the DMZ around 8:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the JCS said. Yonhap. The South Korean military broadcast warnings and fired warning shots, the JCS said, as troops invading from the North retreated toward their border.
The intrusion was considered accidental, the JCS concluded, similar to an incident on June 9 in which warning shots were fired as Pyongyang's troops strayed over the border.
The latest developments come at a time of heightened tensions between the neighboring countries on the Korean Peninsula, which remains technically at war through a truce rather than a peace treaty stemming from the 1950-53 Korean War.
They also emerged as Putin heads to Pyongyang on Tuesday for his first visit to North Korea in 24 years. Portraits of Putin and Russian flags are displayed on the streets of Pyongyang Assistant PressWhile a banner hung on a building that read: “We warmly welcome the President of the Russian Federation.”
In an op-ed published in North Korea Rodong Sinmun Newspapers and reproductions Kremlin website Ahead of his arrival, Putin thanked his hosts for their “strong support for Russia's special military operations in Ukraine” and their willingness to “resolutely resist the collective West's desire to prevent the formation of a multilateral world order based on justice. Respect for sovereignty.”
Putin also specifically attacked the United States, claiming that Washington, D.C. “provoked” the war in Ukraine and then “rejected all our efforts for a peaceful resolution of the situation.” He went on to complain that Russia's Western “opponents” are “threatening to send their military contingents into Ukraine” while also “trying to drain our economy with ever-new sanctions.”
Russia is currently facing sanctions from the US and other Western countries over its war in Ukraine, while North Korea is under UN Security Council sanctions for its nuclear weapons testing and missile development.
In his op-ed, Putin said Russia and North Korea “are not controlled by the West” and will “jointly resist illegal unilateral restrictions” by establishing trade and payment systems. Despite the current sanctions, Putin wrote, all efforts to “contain and isolate Russia” have “failed”.
“It is gratifying that our Korean friends—despite years of economic pressure, provocation, blackmail, and US military threats—are equally effective in defending their interests,” he wrote.
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