UNC concludes both Koreas violated armistice agreement in gunfire exchange in DMZ

Flags of the United Nations and the Republic of Korea wave at the inter-Korean Demilitarized Zone in this May, 2019, photo. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

The United Nations Command (UNC) announced Tuesday that it has concluded both South and North Korea violated the armistice agreement via a recent gunfire exchange in a central section of the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

It added it was unable to decide whether the first gunfire from a North Korean guard post was intentional or a mistake ― a different conclusion from the South Korean military's assumption that it was a mistake.

The UNC said its multinational special investigation team, through help from the South Korean military, looked into the May 3 gunfire exchange between the guard posts of the two Koreas. It also called for cooperation from the North's Korean People's Army (KPA) for the investigation but the North failed to give a formal response to the request.

“The investigation determined the KPA committed an armistice agreement violation when it fired four rounds of 14.5mm small arms fire from a KPA guard post located on the northern side of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) upon UNC guard post on May 3 at 7:41 a.m.” read a statement by the UNC. The command added, however, it was unable to determine whether the gunshots were fired intentionally or by accident.

“The investigation also determined the Republic of Korea (South Korea) Army guards responded to the KPA small arms fire 32 minutes later with two volleys of gunfire and two broadcast warnings toward North Korea. The gunfire by ROKA guards violated the armistice agreement,” the statement read.

The UNC said that its officials will discuss follow-up measures with officials of both Koreas to encourage them to implement measures to prevent a recurrence of armistice violations.

Earlier, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the South Korean guards at the guard post at the time fired two rounds of warning shots, about 10 shots each time, and broadcast warnings to the North Korean side, after hearing multiple gunshots and finding four bullet holes on the outer wall of the post which seemed to be fired from North Korea. The JCS said the South Korean guards' response was made according to standard operating procedure for a violation of the inter-Korean MDL.

The defense ministry expressed regret over the UNC result, saying the guards at the South Korean guard post responded properly according to its operations manual.