Warning shots were fired by South Korean soldiers this morning at a group of North Korean troops that had crossed the heavily fortified border that separates the two countries.
Ten armed North Koreans reportedly chose to cross the frontier but were forced to retreat rapidly when their southern counterparts opened fire.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff released a statement confirming the breach of the border and the subsequent withdrawal. The incident took place at 5 pm local time (0900 BST).
This incident represents the most recent case in a disturbing pattern of border violations by North Korea in recent months, as the leader of the isolated state, Kim Jong Un, aggressively pursues a relentless campaign of militarization.
Pyongyang’s troops conducted three separate incursions across the border in June 2024, when Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to Kim.
North and South Korea technically remain at war as the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, and the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) dividing the peninsula is already one of the most heavily guarded places on earth despite its name.
But North Korea has recently moved to reinforce the DMZ even further, laying more landmines, reinforcing tactical roads and adding anti-tank barriers while blowing up railways connecting the two sides of the peninsula.
One of the incursions in June saw several North Korean soldiers sustain injuries when they accidentally stumbled upon landmines they had laid along the border as they retreated.
South Korean army soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, on Feb. 18, 2025
This undated handout photo provided on June 18, 2024 by the South Korean Defence Ministry shows North Korean soldiers working at an undisclosed location near the heavily fortified border, as seen from a South Korean guard area
North Korean Supreme leader Kim Jong Un sitting inside a new-type main battle tank during a training competition involving tank units of the Korean People’s Army (KPA), at an undisclosed location in North Korea
People have stepped across the demarcation line that separates the two Koreas before.
But these incidents typically take place under very special circumstances, and usually at the border village of Panmunjom where US President Donald Trump famously stepped across the frontier with North Korean leader Kim.
Outside of Panmunjom, much of the DMZ is wilderness and in some parts is only marked by a sign mounted on a stick or a slice of concrete surrounded by heavy foliage.
Because overgrown trees and plants may have been obscuring the signs marking the demarcation line, Seoul says, the North Korean troops may have stepped over the line without knowing it.
But the southern side of the land border is protected not only by thousands of soldiers, guns and mines but also by a dense network of cameras, motion sensors and other high-tech surveillance equipment.
Any breaches are therefore detected extremely quickly and will result in troops trying to cross being greeted with warning shots from the South Korean sentries who are prepared to shoot to kill if their foes do not retreat.
Analysts believe that North Korea’s recent efforts to fortify and mine the border are designed to crack down on any attempts by North Koreans to defect, but also to signal to Seoul that there is no path to peace any time soon.
‘North Korea’s activities seem to be a measure to strengthen internal control, such as blocking North Korean troops and North Koreans from defecting to the South,’ one JCS official said.
Meanwhile, Koh Yu-hwan, North Korean studies emeritus professor at Dongguk University, said the fresh fortification ‘has rather symbolic significance’.
‘By laying mines, North Korea is demonstrating once again that, as per the instructions of the supreme leader (Kim Jong Un), there will be no reconciliation with the South,’ he added.
‘North Korea is not laying mines across the entire frontline, but rather in areas that are easily observable by the South. They are also blocking roads and railways that were previously areas of inter-Korean cooperation.’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses with troops at a major military operations base in the western region of the country
This picture taken on May 30, 2024 and released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on May 31, 2024 shows the test-firing of 600mm super-large rocket artillery at an unconfirmed location in North Korea
The new treaty will allow for mutual assistance in case of aggression against one of the parties to this treaty’
During a period of warmer ties in 2018, the two Koreas removed landmines along a section of the heavily fortified border in a bid to ease military tensions – but this brief period of reconciliation did not last long.
Both sides have said they are no longer bound by a military agreement signed in 2018 to reduce said tensions.
It remains to be seen whether US President Donald Trump – who worked to rebuild ties with Kim during his first presidential term – will attempt to engage Pyongyang in diplomacy once again.
Trump said since his inauguration in January that he would reach out to Kim but gave no time frame.
Pyongyang has not responded to Trump’s remarks and says US hostilities against it have deepened.
