Key Points

Ko Jong-chol, vice chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA), issued a statement calling for Seoul to stop its "premeditated and deliberate" provocations that he said are "inciting military conflict," reports Yonhap, quoting the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"On Aug. 19, the ROK military warmongers committed such a serious provocation as firing more than 10 warning shots with a 12.7 mm large-calibre machine gun at the DPRK soldiers who were conducting a permanent barrier project near the southern border line," the statement read.

ROK is the acronym for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea, and DPRK is short for North Korea's full name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea said its soldiers were conducting a "barrier project to permanently block the southern border" in an effort to reinforce it. The project came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other" in late 2023.

Ko said the North had informed the US forces stationed in South Korea of a plan for the project on June 25 and July 18 in a bid to prevent an accidental conflict near the border.

"In particular, the recent incident, timed to coincide with the large-scale joint military drills being staged in the region of the ROK, cannot but be construed as a premeditated and deliberate provocation aimed at military conflict from A to Z," the official said.

The North's claim came as Seoul and Washington kicked off their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise Monday for an 11-day run through Thursday next week.

"If the act of restraining or obstructing the project unrelated to the military character persists, our army will regard it as a deliberate military provocation and take corresponding countermeasures," Ko warned.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the military fired warning shots earlier this week after North Korean troops crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating the two Koreas.

"Measures, such as warning shots, were taken after North Korean soldiers violated the MDL in a central front-line area at around 3 p.m. Tuesday, and they retreated," a JCS official said, adding the military continues to closely monitor the North's military activities in the border area.

Since April last year, North Korean troops have been seen installing barbed wire fences and anti-tank barriers near the MDL -- a move seen as aimed at fortifying the border with the South.

The South Korean military had broadcast a warning message when North Korean troops conducting the barrier project moved close to the MDL. It then fired warning shots when they violated the boundary.

The JCS had notified the press shortly after it fired warning shots in response to similar border crossings that occurred in June last year and April this year. But it did not make such an announcement this week, in what is seen as an effort to prevent inter-Korean tensions as Seoul seeks to mend frayed ties with Pyongyang.

In a separate statement carried by the KCNA, North Korea's military condemned the ongoing combined military exercise between Seoul and Washington as "extremely provocative and aggressive" large-scale drills targeting the North.

"The DPRK army, as already declared, will respond to the military provocations of the hostile forces posing a direct threat to the safety of the country with proper and indiscriminate exercise of the right to self-defence," an unnamed spokesperson at the General Staff of the KPA warned.

- IANS