North Korea has been reinforcing the border since abandoning a military agreement with the South last November.
South Korea's military has said that between 20 and 30 North Korean soldiers crossed the border between the two countries early Tuesday, but returned after South Korean forces fired warning shots.
The incident took place around 8:30 a.m. (2330 GMT Monday), when a group of North Korean soldiers in the central part of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) crossed the military demarcation line, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the state. Major Joint. Staff (JCS).
The JCS said the group quickly returned after South Korean forces fired warning shots, saying they believed the crossing was not deliberate. A similar incident took place in the central area of the DMZ just over a week ago.
The South Korean military also said that several North Korean soldiers had been injured or killed in landmine explosions in the border area, but did not say when the incidents took place. The DMZ and the Line of Control along the peninsula is one of the most fortified and mined borders in the world.
“Many casualties are occurring due to several landmine explosions in the front area,” the JCS told reporters.
North Korea said in November it would abandon a 2018 military deal with Seoul and move more troops and equipment to the border, after South Korea suspended parts of the agreement in response to Pyongyang's successful launch of its first military spy satellite. .
Activity in the area has increased since then and the JCS said North Korea was removing streetlights and railway tracks, installing anti-tank barriers and laying mines to establish “barren lands to strengthen security capabilities.”
The latest incident comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un prepares to host Russian President Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang as the two countries deepen their relationship.
In a letter published in Tuesday's edition of the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, Putin said the two countries had developed good relations and partnerships over the past 70 years.
“We will develop alternative trade mechanisms and mutual agreements that are not controlled by the West, and we will jointly resist illegitimate unilateral restrictions,” Putin wrote. “And at the same time we will build an equal and indivisible security architecture in Eurasia.”
Putin and Kim last met in eastern Russia last September.
