South Korean soldier misfires machine gun toward North Korea

A South Korean soldier deployed at a front-line unit near the inter-Korean border accidentally fired a machine gun toward North Korea earlier this week, prompting Seoul to air broadcasts to notify Pyongyang of the incident, Yonhap news reported Thursday.

The soldier mistakenly fired a single round using a heavy machine gun from a general outpost unit in Yangju, some 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) north of Seoul, on Wednesday, said the South Korean military.

The respective unit immediately conducted a broadcast to Pyongyang to notify of the incident and no unusual movements by the North Korean military have been detected so far, Yang Seung-kwan, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

This was the second such incident which occurred in a month after a South Korean soldier accidentally fired a single round from the K6 heavy machine from a guard post inside the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the two Koreas in Cheorwon County, about 70 km (43 mi) north of the capital.

The official said the military has launched an investigation into the incident, and will review measures to prevent similar accidents in future.