Tri-Service

North and South Korea 'Trade Artillery Fire' Over Loudspeaker

In a development almost as bizarre as the war nearly started by a poplar tree, North and South Korea have been exchanging artillery fire over a blaring loudspeaker.

A loudspeaker that South Korea installed to resume its anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasting is seen on August 11.

South Korea's military has fired dozens of shells at rival North Korea after the North lobbed a single artillery round at a town south of the border, the South's Defence Ministry said.

The ministry said in a statement that its artillery landed at the source of the North Korean shell. It appeared that North Korea did not respond to South Korea's returned fire.

About 80 residents in the South Korean town where the shell fell, Yeoncheon, were evacuated to underground bunkers, and authorities urged other residents to evacuate, a Yeoncheon official said. He added there were no reports of injuries or damage.

In the nearby border city of Paju, residents were asked to stay home, officials said.

North Korea had previously threatened to attack South Korean loudspeakers that have been broadcasting, for the first time in 11 years, anti-Pyongyang propaganda messages across the border. Pyongyang also restarted its own loudspeakers aimed at the South.

The cross-border propaganda warfare followed accusations from Seoul that Pyongyang planted landmines on the South Korean side of the demilitarised zone that maimed two South Korean soldiers last week.

North Korea is extremely sensitive to any criticism of the government run by leader Kim Jong Un, whose family has ruled since it was founded in 1948.

North Korea's army said previously in a statement that the broadcasts were a declaration of war and that if they were not immediately stopped "an all-out military action of justice" would ensue.

More From Forces TV: Comment: Why We Shouldn't Snigger At North Korea

South Korean president Park Geun-hye urged Pyongyang to "wake up" from the delusion that it could maintain its government with provocation and threats.

Pyongyang's powerful National Defence Commission had claimed that Seoul fabricated the evidence on the landmines and demanded video proof. The landmine explosions resulted in one soldier losing both legs and another soldier one leg.