By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
Inter-Korean tensions escalated again over the weekend, as it emerged Sunday that North Korean troops had trespassed into South Korean territory a day earlier before being greeted by gunfire.
A South Korean Army source was quoted by local news agency Yonhap as confirming that around 10 soldiers from the North crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) that divides the two sides Saturday morning shortly before 9 a.m.
"The military sent a warning message and fired warning shots," the source explained following the incident near Cheorwon, Gangwon Province.
Although the North Korean soldiers apparently retreated without firing back, the standoff could yet have repercussions for Seoul-Pyongyang ties.
North Korea threatened to unleash "a great war of justice" last November after the South fired warning shots in response to approaching soldiers from the North -- a month earlier there had also been a full exchange of fire, albeit without casualties.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said at the time that North Korean soldiers were seen taking pictures of signposts that mark the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) surrounding the MDL.
The South's Army is looking into the motivation for this weekend's incursion -- only last month, chairman of the JCS Admiral Choi Yun-hee urged front-line troops to strengthen their defence posture amid intensifying threats from both Pyongyang and Seoul.
Having been divided since the end of World War II, the Koreas never signed a peace treaty following their 1950-53 conflict.
Military personnel and civilians have continued to be caught up in provocations and acts of aggression over the ensuing decades -- with both sides suffering scores of fatalities even after the official close of the Korean War.
