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South Korea’s ‘UFO’ spotted near DMZ border with North was a flock of birds
- South Korea had earlier alerted journalists to an ‘unidentified object’ flying near the border with the North
- The alert came a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump met in the demilitarised zone
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South Korea scrambled fighter jets and helicopters in response to a flock of birds flying near the border with North Korea on Monday, a day after US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met at the border and agreed to resume diplomacy.
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The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had said earlier that “traces of flight by an unidentified object” had been detected over the central portion of the demilitarised zone that divides the two Koreas.
Local news reports said Seoul launched a military response because it believed the object could be a North Korean helicopter flying across the border into the South.
In a statement, the Joint Chiefs of Staff only confirmed that unidentified “surveillance assets” had been deployed, and a flock of birds flying across the border from north to south had been identified as the source of the alert.
The DMZ, which was created after fighting ended in the 1950-53 Korean war, is peppered with an estimated 2 million mines and guarded by combat troops, razor wire fences, anti-tank traps and guard posts on both sides. The two Koreas have occasionally traded exchanges of gunfire there, though animosities have eased since North Korea entered talks on its nuclear programme.
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