North Korea shells South Korean military unit forcing Seoul to return fire with scores of its own rockets as tensions over cross-border loudspeaker propaganda intensifies
- Attack is believed to have taken place on the western stretch of the border
- Local media reported the shelling, citing sources in South Korea's military
- South Korea's defence ministry said it couldn't immediately confirm reports
- Shelling comes at a time of elevated tension between the North and South
South Korea's military fired dozens of shells at rival North Korea this morning after the North launched a single artillery round at a South Korean border town.
Seoul's defence ministry said in a statement that its own missiles had landed at the exact spot from where North Korea had fired its single shell.
There were no other immediate details from the military, but it appeared that North Korea did not respond to South Korea's returned fire.
It is believed that the North's shells may have been targeting South Korean loudspeakers that have been broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda over the border for the past week - an unorthodox practice not used by either side in the conflict since 2004.
North Korea later issued a warning for Seoul to stop the pro-democracy broadcasts within 48 hours or face the prospect of further strikes on the loudspeakers and the military units which guard them.
North Korea has shelled a South Korean military unit on the western section of the inter-Korean border, the South's Yonhap news agency said, citing military sources. Picture shows the North testing a shell
Cautious: South Korean solders patrol the shared border. Today's shelling comes at a time of elevated cross-border tensions, following a landmine attack earlier this month
About 80 residents in the South Korean town where the shell fell, Yeoncheon, were evacuated to underground bunkers, and authorities urged other residents to evacuate, a Yeoncheon official said, requesting anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.
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He said there were no reports of injuries or damage in Yeoncheon.
In the nearby border city of Paju, residents were asked to stay home, officials said.
North Korea had previously threatened to attack South Korean loudspeakers that have been broadcasting, for the first time in 11 years, anti-Pyongyang propaganda messages across their shared border.
Pyongyang also restarted its own loudspeakers aimed at the South.
The cross-border propaganda warfare followed accusations from Seoul that Pyongyang had planted land mines on the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone that maimed two South Korean soldiers last week.
Authoritarian North Korea is extremely sensitive to any criticism of the government run by leader Kim Jong Un, whose family has ruled since it was founded in 1948.
Tension: South Korean troops are regularly on high alert from a threat from North Korea across the border
SOUTH KOREA'S PRESIDENT SHOULD 'SHUT HER UNSHAPELY MOUTH AND GET HER CRIME-RIDDEN BODY BURIED,' NORTH KOREA SAYS
Threat: South Korean President Geun-hye
A spokesperson for North Korea's Joint National Organization of Working People has issued a chilling death threat to the South Korean President.
The anonymous spokesperson demanded that Geun-hye be 'buried in a cemetery as soon as possible'.
The statement came after the president marked the 70th anniversary of Korean liberation from Japanese rule with a series of nationalist statements.
The North responded by saying: 'What she should do for the nation is to leave Cheongwadae, the doghouse of the U.S., shut her unshapely mouth and get her crime-ridden body buried in the cemetery at an early date.'
Cheongwadae , also known as the Blue House, is the executive office and official residence of the South Korean head of state.
North Korea's army said previously in a statement that the broadcasts were a declaration of war and that if they were not immediately stopped 'an all-out military action of justice' would ensue.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye urged Pyongyang to 'wake up' from the delusion that it could maintain its government with provocation and threats.
Pyongyang's powerful National Defense Commission had claimed that Seoul fabricated the evidence on the land mines and demanded video proof. The land mine explosions resulted in one soldier losing both legs and another soldier one leg.
Just days ago it was announced that tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops will carry out a large-scale military exercise to simulate an all-out attack by North Korea.
The annual exercise, known as Ulchi Freedom, will be carried out on 28 August and has been condemned by Pyongyang as a 'declaration of war.'
The drill plays out a full-scale invasion scenario by nuclear-armed North Korea mainly through computer simulation and the use of 50,000 Korean and 30,000 US soldiers.
Pyongyang views Ulchi Freedom - along with other annual South Korea-US drills - as provocative and has threatened the 'strongest military counter-action' should this year's exercise go ahead.
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