North Korea's DMZ gunfire could be a message from Kim that he's still in charge of the military, expert says
Gunshots were fired Sunday morning from the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone, striking a guard post in South Korea. South Korea, which reported no casualties, responded by firing two shots toward North Korea.
The two countries are technically still in a state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in truce rather than a peace treaty, and they've exchanged fire in similar fashion on occasion, but Seoul is reportedly perplexed by the timing of the latest incident.
Choi Kang, the vice president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, has one theory — it shows who's in charge of Pyongyang's military. The gunfire comes one day after North Korea reported the first public appearance by its leader, Kim Jong Un, in three weeks, mostly squashing rumors that he was in ill heath or had died. "Yesterday, Kim was trying to show he's perfectly healthy, and today, Kim is trying to mute all kinds of speculation that he may not have full control over the military," Choi told Reuters. "Rather than going all the way by firing missiles and supervising a missile launch, Kim could be reminding us, 'yes I'm healthy and I'm still in power.'" Read more at The New York Times and Reuters.
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