N and S Korean guards trade fire

BBC | Aug 1 2006

North and South Korean troops have exchanged gunfire along the border between the two countries, for the first time since October.

According to South Korean military officials, North Korean soldiers fired two shots towards a South Korean guard post in the demilitarised zone.

They say six shots were fired back but there are no reports of casualties.

Relations between the two countries have soured since North Korea launched a number of missile tests last month.

South Korea has asked the United Nations Military Armistice Commission, which monitors the truce between the two countries, to investigate Tuesday's shooting incident.

The BBC's Charles Scanlon in Seoul says that although exchanges of fire in the demilitarised zone have been rare in recent years, the North has a pattern of escalating tension when under pressure from the outside world.

North Korea has been facing international criticism after it test-fired seven missiles last month, including a new long-range weapon capable of reaching Alaska.

Cancelled

High-level talks between the two Koreas in the wake of the tests collapsed. South Korea has suspended food aid to its northern neighbour and says it will not resume shipments until there is progress on the missile and nuclear issues.

North Korea retaliated by ending reunions of families separated by the partitioning of the Korean Peninsula in 1953.

It has also cancelled joint celebrations scheduled for 15 August in its capital, Pyongyang, to mark the anniversary of the end of Japanese colonial rule.

North Korea blamed recent flooding for the cancellation.

"The North Korean organising committee (of the joint events) said in a faxed message on 1 August that it was unable to hold the 15 August joint unification events due to damages from the floods," a South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman said.

Torrential rain hit the country in mid-July, causing floods which left dozens dead or missing, damaging infrastructure and inundating agricultural land.

On Saturday, North Korea also cancelled its Arirang gymnastics festival, which attracts many tourists from the south, citing the floods.

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