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| Pictured is a hole left in the ground by North Korean machine-gun fire in the border county of Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province. / Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
North Korea fired heavy machine guns at South Korean propaganda balloons Friday afternoon, with some rounds landing in Yeoncheon, an inland county located just south of the inter-Korean border.
The ROK Army returned fire as a warning. No casualties were reported.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the North fired about 10 rounds from 14.5-millimeter anti-aircraft machine guns. The South fired about 40 rounds from K-6 machine guns in the direction from which the North had fired.
"The North fired at 3:55 p.m., after a group of South Korean activists launched balloons filled with anti-North Korean leaflets from the border village of Paju at 2 p.m.," said a JCS officer. "Some rounds were discovered to have landed in an Army outpost and inside an administrative office near the Civilian Control Line at 4:50 p.m."
ROK forces broadcast a warning message at 5:30 p.m., and began firing back at 5:40 p.m. toward the North's guard post (GP), the officer said. The two sides exchanged fire again, and the firing came to a stop about 7 p.m.
The exchange of fire took place on the 69th anniversary of the founding of Pyongyang's ruling Workers' Party.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was not present at the anniversary party held in the North, extending to 37 days his absence from public appearances.
The reclusive state warned through its official Korean Central News Agency that Seoul would face an "uncontrollable catastrophe" unless the leaflet campaign was stopped.
The South's government dismissed the warning, saying it could not interfere with civilians' activities. Three of the North's top officials made a surprise visit last Saturday, raising hopes of inter-Korean reconciliation.
Some 30 North Korean-born activists launched 200,000 anti-North Korean leaflets into the reclusive state from the border town of Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
The members of the non-profit Fighters for a Free North Korea said they had sent the leaflets to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-ranking North Korean ever to have defected to the South. Hwang defected in 1997.
"We were determined to go ahead with sending the leaflets, despite the threat from North Korea, because we wanted to better inform North Korean residents about Hwang," said Park Sang-hak, president of the group.
Park said North Korea was attempting to brainwash its people to believe that Hwang had been treated badly here and that his life had come to a tragic end.
"This is not true," Park said. "As North Korean defectors, we know that the South Korean government respected him and treated him nicely until he died. We wanted the North Koreans to learn of this fact from the leaflets."
Earlier, the South Korean government had repeatedly asked the activists to rethink their plans to send the leaflets, concerned about the possible negative fallout for inter-Korean relations.
Inter-Korean relations showed signs of improving last week, when the three high-ranking North Korean delegates made a surprise visit to the South for the closing ceremony of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
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