SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea said on Saturday that South Korean military fired warning shots on Tuesday in the border area between the two Koreas, and called it a deliberate provocation, according to state media KCNA.
North Korea also said that warning broadcasts from the South Korean military in the border region were increasing.
Since last year, North Korea has been building barriers in the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas, while blowing up inter-Korean roads and railways.
North Korea will “take corresponding countermeasure” for any obstruction to the barrier building project, and “take no responsibility for the grave consequences” if advanced warning in the border area is ignored in the future, KCNA said, citing a statement by Army Lieutenant General Ko Jong Chol, vice chief of the General Staff of the North Korean army.
North Korea’s message is at odds with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung saying last week that it will end some military activities along its border with North Korea, in his government’s latest in a string of efforts to improve ties between the neighbours still technically at war.
North Korea also criticised again ongoing joint military drills by the U.S. and South Korea as “an extremely provocative…drill for an actual war” in a separate KCNA piece on Saturday.
The U.S. and South Korea have said the drills are defensive.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Leslie Adler and Diane Craft)
