An accident during a routine ROK military exercise near the inter-Korean border caused a machine gun to fire bullets toward North Korea, though they fell well short of DPRK territory, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday.

Media reports over the weekend said that a front-line unit in Gangwon Province fired four rounds at around 6:27 p.m. Saturday KST, citing unnamed military sources. The unit immediately broadcast multiple notices to the North that the discharge was not intentional, the reports added.