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NUKEWARS
S. Korea fires warning shots at North soldiers
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) July 12, 2015


North Korea names new defence minister: state media
Seoul (AFP) July 11, 2015 - North Korea named the four-star general appointed to the vacant post of defence minister on Saturday, three months after his predecessor was reportedly executed.

The country's KCNA news agency referred to General Pak Yong-sik as "head of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces", the country's defence minister equivalent, in a report on military talks held with the government of Laos.

Pak has appeared in numerous state media reports in recent weeks as part of the entourage of leader Kim Jong-Un, fuelling speculation he was to take the position.

The defence minister is thought to rank the second or third highest in the country's military hierarchy, South Korea's Yonhap agency said.

Pak was promoted to major general in the North's army in 1999, according to Yonhap, rising to become a four-star general in May.

It is the first time the North has confirmed that a replacement has been chosen after the purging of the previous defence minister, Hyon Yong-chol, in April.

South Korea's spy agency initially said Hyon was removed for disloyalty and dozing off during official events presided over by Kim.

But doubts later surfaced over his reported execution when the National Intelligence Service clarified that it had been unable to verify he had been put to death.

An opposition MP said at the time it was "odd" that North Korean state TV had continued to show recorded footage featuring the defence minister even after he had supposedly been purged.

The North's state-run media typically deletes all past mentions of purged officials and air-brushes them from any TV footage.

South Korean troops fired warning shots at North Korean soldiers who intruded on the buffer zone marking their heavily armed border, Seoul said Sunday, in the first such skirmish this year.

The incident occurred Saturday morning when 10 North Korean soldiers crossed the border of the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, which remain technically at war, the South's defence ministry said.

But the brief intrusion near Cheorwon, northeast of Seoul, triggered no exchange of fire as North Korean soldiers retreated without firing back, it said.

The demilitarised zone, or DMZ, despite its name, is one of the world's most heavily militarised frontiers, bristling with watchtowers and landmines.

There have been a series of minor skirmishes, involving exchanges of fire, along the inter-Korean land and sea borders in recent years.

But this is the first time in 2015 South Korean soldiers have fired warning shots at North Korean troops for intruding in the DMZ, a ministry official told AFP.

Cross-border tensions have flared at regular intervals this year, with North Korea conducting a series of ballistic missile tests in anger at annual US-South Korean military exercises.


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NUKEWARS
North Korea names new defence minister: state media
Seoul (AFP) July 11, 2015
North Korea named the four-star general appointed to the vacant post of defence minister on Saturday, three months after his predecessor was reportedly executed. The country's KCNA news agency referred to General Pak Yong-sik as "head of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces", the country's defence minister equivalent, in a report on military talks held with the government of Laos. P ... read more


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