SEOUL: North and South Korea exchanged gunfire on Sunday when the North’s soldiers approached the border and did not retreat after the South fired warning shots, the South Korean Defence Ministry said.

The North’s troops fired back in an exchange of gunfire that lasted about 10 minutes. However, the situation did not escalate, a ministry official said.

“There were no casualties or property damage,” the official said.

The incident was the latest in a series of confrontations in recent weeks between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war, and follows an urgent meeting between senior military officials on Wednesday to discuss how to ease tensions.

The North’s soldiers on Saturday approached the so-called Military Demarcation Line that separates the countries but retreated after the South fired warning shots, the official added.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2014