South Korea fires rounds at North in response to projectile
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Seoul - South Korea fired tens of artillery rounds towards North Korea on Thursday after the North fired a projectile towards a South Korean loudspeaker that had been blaring anti-Pyongyang broadcasts, the defence ministry in Seoul said.
North Korea did not immediately respond to the South'sshots, it said, as tensions rose on the peninsula.
South Korea said its detection equipment had spotted thetrajectory of a suspected North Korean projectile launched ataround 3:52 pm (0652 GMT), which did not appear to have damagedthe loudspeaker or caused any injuries.
South Korea said its detection equipment had spotted thetrajectory of a suspected North Korean projectile launched ataround 3:52 pm (0652 GMT), which did not appear to have damagedthe loudspeaker or caused any injuries.
"Our military has stepped up monitoring and is closelywatching North Korean military movements," South Korea's defenceministry said in a statement.
South Korea's military raised its alert status to thehighest level.
There was no mention of the firing in North Korean statemedia, which does not typically make immediate comment onevents.
The suspected North Korean projectile landed in an areaabout 60 km (35 miles) north of Seoul in the western part of theborder zone, the defence ministry said. South Korean residentsin the area were ordered to evacuate, according to the South'sYonhap news agency.
Yonhap reported that the projectile appeared to have landedin a mountainous area near a South Korean military base in thetown of Yeoncheon.
South Korea's presidential office said it had convened ameeting of the national security council.
The exchange of fire was the first between the two Koreassince last October, when North Korean soldiers approached themilitary border and did not retreat after the South firedwarning shots, the South Korean Defence Ministry said at thetime. The North's soldiers fired back in an exchange of gunfirethat lasted about 10 minutes, with no casualties.
Tension between the two Koreas has risen since early thismonth when landmine explosions in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ)of the border wounded two South Korean soldiers. Seoul accusedNorth Korea of laying the mines, which Pyongyang has denied.
Seoul then began blasting anti-North Korean propaganda fromloudspeakers on the border, resuming a tactic that both sideshad halted in 2004.
North Korea on Saturday demanded that the South halt thebroadcasts or face military action, and on Monday beganconducting its own broadcasts.
Thursday's exchange of fire came amid ongoing annual jointU.S. and South Korean military exercises, which began on Mondayand which North Korea condemns as preparation for war.
The two Koreas have remained in a technical state of warsince the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peacetreaty.
South Korea's won currency weakened in non-deliverableforward trading on the reports of the firing, which came afteronshore spot trading had closed. The 1-month contract rose as high as 1,192.7 won per dollar from around1,189.8 earlier.
