Amid tensions between the two nations, North and South Korea exchanged fire over their border Thursday.
According to the South Korea Defense Ministry, South Korea detected a projectile, assumed to be a small rocket, fired toward the western province of Gyeonggi. The South Korean military responded by firing a few dozen shells at the area from which the North Korean projectile was fired, the official told CNN.
Tensions between the two nations have been high in recent weeks after land mines wounded two South Korean soldiers in a demilitarized zone — mines that South Korea accused the North of planting. Seoul promised a “harsh” response to the land mine incident (Pyongyang denied it planted them) and resumed blaring propaganda messages into North Korea from loudspeakers set up at their heavily fortified shared border.
In response, an angry North Korea called the messages “a direct action of declaring war” and threatened to blow up not only the South Korean speakers, but its southern neighbor as well. North Korea also began broadcasting propaganda messages over the border into South Korea on Monday.
South Korea along with the United States and other countries also began military exercises together on Monday, a move that infuriated Pyongyang and added to the tension between the two Korean nations. The exercises are described by South Korea and the U.S. as training to improve readiness and keep stability in the Korean Peninsula.
The last time North and South Korea exchanged fire was in October 2014.
