KOREA

AFP: N Korean, S Korean Troops In Border Shootout
AFP) -- South Korean and North Korean troops exchanged gunfire in a border shootout that triggered alarm here amid diplomatic efforts to end a prolonged stand-off over the communist nation's nuclear ambitions.

The shootout between North and South Korean guard posts in the buffer zone lasted for nearly one minute. North Korean machine gun rounds hit the wall of the South Korean guard post, Colonel Lee Hong-Gi of the South's joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said.