Koreas exchange gunfire

Koreas exchange gunfire

Koreas exchange gunfire

Soldiers based north and south of the Korean ‘demilitarised zone’ have exchanged machine gun fire this Thursday morning, according to South Korea’s military.

There are no confirmed reports of fatalities.

North Korea was first to fire with four shots targeting a South Korean army position near the town of Yonchon, 35 miles north of Seoul, at 6:10 am local time.

The South issued a warning before retaliating. 17 shots were fired one minute later.

South Korean soldiers issued a stern warning urging soldiers from the reclusive communist state to immediately end the “provocation.”

The disturbance comes as tension continues to mount on the peninsula. Pyongyang admitted last October to restarting its nuclear weapons programme and now claims to have completed reprocessing 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, used to produce weapons-grade material for nuclear bombs.

North Korea says it now has enough plutonium to make half a dozen bombs.