Shots Exchanged On the Korean DMZ After Activists Launch Balloons

Here is another example of tit-for-tat occurring on the DMZ:

The two Koreas exchanged machine gun fire Friday, Seoul’s military said, after the North launched shots toward balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets floated by South Korean civic activists across the tense border.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said some of the North Korean shots landed south of the border, prompting the South’s military to fire back in response.

No further details were available, including whether there were any casualties on either side.

Seoul’s military officials corrected earlier reports that artillery had been used in the clash, saying that it’s wrong.

They said shots could be heard from north of the border at around 3:55 p.m., about two hours after a group of South Korean activists flew 200,000 anti-North Korean leaflets in balloons in a border village of Paju.

The officials added that shots apparently fired by anti-aircraft machine guns were discovered south of the border around 4:50 p.m. There were no reports of South Korean casualties, they said.

South Korea’s military fired back about 40 rounds from its K-6 machine gun 10 minutes after issuing an warning message at 5:30 p.m. [Yonhap]

This may have been another example of a DMZ tit-for-tat, but the threat to these balloons activists from the North Korean regime is very real.  Park Sang-hak the North Korean defector who is the leader of this activist group is the one in the most danger.  Park is the man who the Kim regime has repeatedly threatened, sent their South Korean leftist lackeys to assault him, and even tried to assassinate him a few years ago due to his balloon launch efforts.  Despite all this Park continues to send his balloons into North Korea which must be having an effect considering the reaction of the Kim regime to these launches.