South Korea exchanged machinegun fire with communist North Korea today in a rare incident just as Pyongyang appeared set to return to talks on its nuclear ambitions.
The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its troops returned fire after the North shot at an observation post in the Demilitarised Zone, the divided peninsula's fortified frontier.
The firing - the last such incident was in November 2001 - occurred as the United States and China sought to coax North Korea back into talks.
Beijing said a Chinese envoy just back from Pyongyang would visit Washington. A US official said earlier the North may be ready to talk about its atomic weapons plans.
The shooting could be seen as a precursor to heightened tensions on the world's last Cold War border, days from the 50th anniversary of the July 27th armistice that ended the Korean War.
In Washington, a State Department official said North Korea appeared ready to resume three-way talks with China and the United States. After an inconclusive round in April, the North reverted to insisting on direct US talks.