North Korea Considers South Korea Deliberately Provoking With Warning Shots At Borders

UNSPLASH/Ira Kang ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - North Korea (North Korea) called the South Korean military firing warning shots on Tuesday in the border area between the two Koreas. North Korea called it a deliberate provocation.

North Korea also said warning broadcasts from the South Korean military in border areas were intensifying.

Since last year, North Korea has built barriers to the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas, while blowing up highways and inter-Korean railway lines.

North Korea will take appropriate countermeasures against any barrier development projects, and are not responsible for the serious consequences if early warnings in border areas are ignored in the future, KCNA reports, citing a statement by North Korea's Deputy Chief of Army General Staff Lieutenant General Ko Jong Chol.

North Korea's message contradicts South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's statement last week that he would end several military activities along his border with North Korea, as the government's latest move in a series of attempts to improve relations between the two neighboring countries.

North Korea has also again criticized the ongoing joint military exercises between the US and South Korea as a "very provocative exercise for true war" in separate news at KCNA on Saturday.

The US and South Korea said the drills were defensive.