UN Command investigates inter-Korea border incidents

The US-led UN Command said Thursday it is investigating a series of incidents at the inter-Korean border earlier this week, including a border incursion by North Korean troops and South Korea's resumption of anti-Pyongyang broadcasts, the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency reported. "We take our mission seriously at the UN Command and are currently investigating the recent issues with utmost diligence," the Command said. "Our actions are in strict accordance with the Armistice Agreement as we work towards de-escalating the situation to ensure peace and stability in the region. We continue to call on the DPRK (North Korea) to return to dialogue using our established mechanisms," it said. The UN Command is an enforcer of the armistice that stopped the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War, overseeing activities inside the Demilitarized Zone -- a buffer zone between the two Koreas since the three-year conflict ended without a peace treaty. On Sunday, some 20 North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Lin e inside the zone before retreating northward after the South fired warning shots, according to Seoul's military. The incursion came just hours before the South resumed anti-Pyongyang broadcasts via loudspeakers toward the North for the first time in six years in response to the North's recent launches of trash-carrying balloons. Since May 28, the North is estimated to have launched more than 1,600 balloons in response to anti-Pyongyang leafleting by activists in South Korea. Source: Kuwait News Agency