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Tensions on the Korean Peninsula

South Korea, US agree to counter North’s military provocations

The tensions on the Korean peninsula escalated on August 20 when the North and the South exchanged artillery fire in the western part of the Demilitarized Zone

SEOUL, August 22. /TASS/. The military chiefs of South Korea and the United States agreed on Saturday to respond to military provocations of North Korea, the South Korean ministry of national defence has said.

South Korean Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Choi Yoon-hee and his U.S. counterpart Gen. Martin Dempsey agreed in a phone conversation held earlier in the day "to deter North Korea from launching additional threats."

The tensions on the Korean peninsula escalated on August 20 when the North and the South exchanged artillery fire in the western part of the Demilitarized Zone. Seoul claimed that the North had opened fire the first to target the loudspeakers used for anti-Pyongyang propaganda. The North says it never started the latest exchange of fire with the South.

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Situation on the Korean Peninsula

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