Korean border guards exchange fire

Soldiers of North and South Korea have exchanged fire across the border but there were no reports of injuries, South Korean military officials said.

Army Major Yoon Won-shik, a spokesman for the office of Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the incident occurred near Paju, 25 miles north east of Seoul, yesterday.

Yoon said two or three shots were fired from a North Korean guard post inside the 2.5 mile-wide Demilitarized Zone and South Korean soldiers immediately returned the fire.

A window at a South Korean guard post was broken in the fire but there were no reports of South Korean soldiers injured, he said.

Yoon said the incident appeared to be accidental.

The Korean border is the world’s most heavily armed, with nearly two million troops deployed on both sides.

The Koreas were divided in 1945.