SEOUL, Aug 23, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - North Korea on Saturday accused the South of firing warning shots at its troops near the border, saying it risked raising tensions to "uncontrollable" levels.

The confrontation happened on Tuesday as North Korean soldiers were working to permanently seal the heavily fortified border that divides the peninsula, state media outlet KCNA said, citing a statement by Army Lieutenant General Ko Jong Chol.

Calling the incident a "serious provocation", Ko said that South Korea's military used a machine gun to fire more than 10 warning shots towards the North's troops.

"This is a very serious prelude that would inevitably drive the situation in the southern border area where a huge number of forces are stationing in confrontation with each other to the uncontrollable phase," Ko said.

South Korea did not immediately confirm the encounter.

The last border clash between the arch-rivals was in early April when South Korea's military fired warning shots after around 10 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the border.

Those troops were spotted in the demilitarised zone between the two countries, parts of which are heavily mined and overgrown.

North Korea's army announced last October it was moving to totally shut off the southern border, saying it had sent a telephone message to US forces to "prevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict".

Shortly after, it blew up sections of the unused but deeply symbolic roads and railroad tracks that connect the North to the South.

Ko, in the statement Friday, warned that North Korea's army would retaliate to any interference with its efforts to permanently seal the border.

"If the act of restraining or obstructing the project unrelated to the military character persists, our army will regard it as deliberate military provocation and take corresponding countermeasure," he said.

North and South Korea have more regularly clashed non-violently over the border.

Last year, North Korea sent thousands of trash-carrying balloons southwards, saying they were retaliation for anti-North propaganda balloons floated by South Korean activists.

Later, the South turned on border loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in six years -- including K-pop tunes and international news -- and the North started transmitting strange sounds along the frontier, unsettling South Korean residents.