North-South Korea Tension A 'Dangerous Game

 

This isn't the first time the North has threatened war against the South, but the US, Japan and the UN are all concerned.

The exchange of fire across the border is more unusual, but it is not unprecedented.
Last October, North Korean troops fired towards areas where propaganda leaflets on balloons had been launched.
South Korea returned fire, but no casualties were reported on either side.
On 4 August, two South Korean soldiers were badly injured by landmines on what they said was a regular patrol route in the DMZ - Demilitarized Zone, the 4km-wide buffer zone between the two Koreas. The South blamed the North for planting the mines. The North denied it, and demanded video evidence.

The following week, South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts from the border region - banks of loudspeakers blaring out anti-Pyongyang messages towards the North
Pyongyang described these as tools of "psychological warfare" and threatened military action in response.
North Korea then resumed its own border broadcasts, denouncing the South.
Both sides had stopped doing this in 2004.
On Thursday, according to Seoul, North Korea fired a single round, believed to be from an anti-aircraft gun, and then several rounds of artillery.South Korean media said this was aimed towards the loudspeakers.
South Korea returned fire with three dozen artillery rounds. Pyongyang denies firing first, and accuses "the war maniacs of the South Korean puppet military" of "foolhardy provocation".
All of this is taking place at a time of heightened tension on the peninsula - annual joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States started on Monday. North Korea routinely describes them as rehearsals for invasion, and every year they are accompanied by condemnation from Pyongyang - Seoul and Washington say they are defensive drills.
It has also issued an ultimatum for the South to stop its propaganda broadcasts within 48 hours, or face a military response.
Overnight, Kim Jong-Un gathered his senior generals and ordered them to move to a state of combat readiness.
With Kim Jong-Un ordering troops to be prepared for military action from 5pm Pyongyang time on Friday (9.30am in London), the next deadline to watch is 5pm on Saturday Pyongyang time.