Two Koreas exchange gunfire along fortified border

Reuters ^ | July 31st 2006 | Reuters

[MNJohnnie]

SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korean troops along their heavily fortified border exchanged gunfire for the first time in about a year, a military official said on Tuesday, with the incident coming as ties between the two have soured.

North Korean troops fired two shots at a South Korean guard post near the Demilitarised Zone on Monday night and South Korean troops returned six shots, an official said by telephone.

"No one was injured in the incident," the Joint Chiefs of Staff official said.

One of the shots hit the guard post, causing South Korean troops to immediately return fire, the official said.

Ties between the two Koreas had been warming in recent years as the two reached a number of agreements on economic cooperation and military confidence building.

[MNJohnnie]

So Kim Il wants to play too?

[b4its2late]

Ruh Roh.

[cripplecreek]

I think they're just testing to see what the response would be.

[Leg Olam]

Wish it had been just one 'Korea'.

[WoofDog123]

hard to even begin to believe this was a personal order from kim il. border incidents have occured periodically and often are far grimmer (and more orchestrated) than this.

[EQAndyBuzz]

A dozen tactical nukes with a northwest wind.

[brownsfan]

Perfect timing. With the world's attention focused on the thugs in the Middle East, NK has an opening. Given that NK is flat broke and starving, but militarily miles ahead of their relatively affluent neighbor, SK. An invasion would be a reasonable plan right now. With nukes as a deterrent to intervention by outside forces, NK could begin a "reunification". I hate to see it, but in some ways, it serves the America hating, ungrateful, South Koreans right.

[FormerACLUmember]

Send in Clinton and and that disgusting fake/phony/liar Madeline Dimwit to service Kim. That will calm him down.

[MNJohnnie]

Why would North Korean border guards shoot across the DMZ on their own?

[RightWhale]

There was the incident a few years ago where the N Kors attacked and killed an American soldier with axes. Seems like they get incidents now and then. Just a reminder that the state of war still exists.

[Fighting Irish]

Ji Kung Hatfield -vs- Qwan Lo McCoy

[thebaron512]

There is a post named after him nearby, but I do believe he was an LT.

[spokeshave]

Disproportionate response .... six shots returned after two received..../sarcasm

[thoughtomator]

That would be one of the few wars that could cause the price of oil to go down. SK won't be using much of it under Stalinism.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

Why would North Korean border guards shoot across the DMZ on their own?

Dude......gimmie a break.....it was TWO SHOTS. Stop reading too much into it. I doubt this was art of Kims master plan to cause chaos by ordering troops to fire two shots across the border

[TaxRelief]

Why would North Korean border guards shoot across the DMZ on their own?

Uh, shooting out street lights in a drunken haze?

[monkeywrench]

http://www.fishmonger.ru/06-07-27/ Pics of north korea. Russian site.

[pawdoggie]

Dude......gimmie a break.....it was TWO SHOTS. Stop reading too much into it. I doubt this was art of Kims master plan to cause chaos by ordering troops to fire two shots across the border

It is far more likely that a ROK soldier would fire into the North, than that a NK soldier would fire into the South, and even a ROK firing without orders or provocation is pretty darned unlikely. Both sides put their best and most disciplined soldiers on the DMZ to insure that random or accidental incidents do not happen. If a NK soldier fires on a ROK guard post, he is a. dead meat or b. under orders to do so.

[ASOC]

1976, AKA as the Tree Day War.

When I was there, the body count on any given year was between 20 and 60. Mostly mines buried in the middle of the night.

[CDB]

His name was Art Bonifas, and he was a Major, IIRC.