South Korea fires warning shots at North Korea

South Korea fires warning shots at North Korea
(Image credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Defense officials in Seoul announced Monday that South Korean troops have fired warning shots near the North Korean border.

The shots came when North Korean soldiers "approached too close to the border," according to The Associated Press. Ten North Korean soldiers "retreated without returning fire" after South Korea fired 20 rounds of warning shots, officials told AP.

The shots were fired inside the Demilitarized Zone, a 2.5-mile area that was created after the Korean War's armistice was reached. The armistice was never replaced by a peace treaty, so the Korean Peninsula "remains in a technical state of war," AP reports.

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Monday's shots mark the second time South Korea has fired warning shots this year. Last month, there were two gunfire exchanges between the two Koreas. AP notes that the conflict is apparently because South Korean activists have been distributing "anti-North leaflets."

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Meghan DeMaria

Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.