List of border incidents involving North and South Korea


The following is a list of border incidents involving North and South Korea since the Korean Armistice Agreement of July 27, 1953, ended large scale military action of the Korean War. Most of these incidents took place near either the Korean Demilitarized Zone or the Northern Limit Line. This list includes engagements on land, air, and sea, but does not include alleged incursions and terrorist incidents that occurred away from the border. A total of 3,693 armed North Korean agents have infiltrated into South Korea between 1954 and 1992, with 20% of these occurring between 1967 and 1968.
Many of the incidents occurring at sea are due to border disputes. In 1977 North Korea claimed an Exclusive Economic Zone over a large area south of the disputed western maritime border, the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea. This is a prime fishing area, particularly for crabs, and clashes commonly occur, which have been dubbed the "Crab Wars". As of January 2011, North Korea had violated the armistice 221 times, including 26 military attacks.
There have also been incursions into North Korea. In 1976, in now-declassified meeting minutes, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense William Clements told Henry Kissinger that there had been 200 raids or incursions into North Korea from the south, though not by the U.S. military. Details of only a few of these incursions have become public, including raids by South Korean forces in 1967 that had sabotaged about 50 North Korean facilities. In 2005 and 2019, US Navy SEALs deployed into North Korea, in the latter operation killing a number of North Korean civilians.

1950s

  • February 16, 1958: North Korean agents hijack a Korean Air Lines flight Changlang en route from Busan to Seoul and land it in Pyongyang; one American pilot, one American passenger, two West German passengers, and 24 other passengers were released in early March, but eight other passengers remained in North Korea.
  • March 6, 1958: An American F-86 Sabre is shot down near the DMZ. The pilot was captured and released after 11 days.

    1960s

  • May 17, 1963: An American OH-23 helicopter was shot down near the DMZ. The crew were captured. They were released a year later on May 16, 1964.
  • 1964: North Korea creates an underground group: Revolutionary Party for Reunification, this group is ground down and eliminated by South Korean authorities by 1969.
  • September 27, 1964: Four South Korean agents crossed the DMZ and killed 13 North Korean soldiers.
  • October 14, 1964: South Korea attempts an assassination of a Korean People's Army division commander.
  • April 27, 1965: Two North Korean MiG-17s attack a United States Air Force RB-47 Stratojet reconnaissance plane above the Sea of Japan, from the North Korean shore. The aircraft was damaged, but managed to land at Yokota Air Base, Japan.
  • October 1966–October 1969: The Korean DMZ Conflict, a series of skirmishes along the DMZ, results in 75 American, 299 South Korean and 397 North Korean soldiers killed.
  • January 19, 1967: ROKS Dangpo , is sunk by North Korean coastal artillery north of the maritime demarcation line off the east coast of Korea, 39 sailors of the crew of 79 are killed.
  • October 18, 1967: Six South Korean agents crossed the DMZ and accessed a North Korean guard post, in the process 20 North Korean soldiers were killed and one South Korean agent died.
  • January 17, 1968: In an incident known as the Blue House Raid, a 31-man detachment from the Korean People's Army secretly crosses the DMZ on a mission to kill South Korean President Park Chung-hee on January 21, nearly succeeding. The incursion was discovered after South Korean civilians confronted the North Koreans and informed the authorities. After entering Seoul disguised as South Korean soldiers, the North Koreans attempt to enter the Blue House. The North Koreans were confronted by South Korean police and a firefight ensued. The North Koreans fled Seoul and individually attempted to cross the DMZ back to North Korea. Of the original group of 31 North Koreans, 28 were killed, one was captured, and two are unaccounted for. Additionally, 26 South Koreans were killed and 66 were wounded, the majority of whom were soldiers and police officers. Three American soldiers were also killed and three were wounded.
  • January 23, 1968: The U.S. Navy intelligence ship was attacked by the Korean People's Navy employing Soviet-built patrol boats and is subsequently boarded and captured, along with its crew, in the Sea of Japan. The entire crew of 83 is captured, with the exception of one sailor killed in the initial attack on the vessel, and the vessel was taken to a North Korean port. Tortured during their imprisonment, all the captives were released on December 23 of the same year via the Bridge of No Return at the DMZ. The USS Pueblo is still in North Korean possession and docked in Pyongyang on display as a museum ship.
  • From March 1968 and March 1969, various military skirmishes took place in the Paektusan region between the North Korean and Chinese armed forces.
  • October 30, 1968: From October 30 to November 2, 120 to 130 North Korean Unit 124 commandos land on the northeast shore of South Korea, allegedly to establish a base in order to wage a guerrilla war against the South Korean government. 70,000 ROK soldiers were involved in the ensuing search-and-destroy operation. A total of 110 to 113 North Korean commandos were killed, seven were captured, and 13 escaped. A total of 40 South Korean soldiers and law enforcement officers were killed as well as 23 civilians.
  • March 17, 1969: Six North Korean commandos kill a South Korean police officer near Jumunjin, Gangwon-do. Seven American soldiers are killed in a North Korean attack along the DMZ.
  • April 15, 1969: A U.S. Navy EC-121M Warning Star reconnaissance aircraft is shot down in international waters east of the North Korean coast, leaving 31 dead.
  • August 17, 1969: Three US soldiers were wounded and captured when their helicopter was shot down for straying into North Korean airspace. They were released 108 days later when the US apologized.
  • October 1969: Four US soldiers are killed by North Koreans in the DMZ. The four U.S. Soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division were traveling in a truck marked with a white flag and labeled with a sign that said “DMZ Police” when they were ambushed by a North Korean patrol with rifle fire and grenades. The North Koreans then went up to the truck and shot each soldier in the head at close range to ensure they were dead. The ambush killed Staff Sergeant James R. Grissinger, Specialist Charles E. Taylor, Specialist Jack L. Morris, and Private First Class William E. Grimes.
  • December 11, 1969: North Korean agent Cho Chang-hui hijacked a Korean Air Lines YS-11 flying from Gangneung Airbase in Gangneung, Gangwon Province to Gimpo International Airport in Seoul. It was carrying four crewmembers and 46 passengers ; 39 of the passengers were returned two months later, but the crew and seven passengers remained in North Korea. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair on landing.

    1970s

  • April 1970: At Kumchon, Gyeonggi Province, a clash leaves three North Korean infiltrators dead and five South Korean soldiers wounded.
  • June 1970: The Korean People's Navy seizes a broadcast vessel from the South near the Northern Limit Line. 20 crew are captured.
  • February 1974: Two South Korean fishing vessels are sunk and 30 crew detained by the North.
  • June 1974: Three North Korean gunboats attacked and sank a Korea Coast Guard patrol craft in the Sea of Japan near the maritime demarcation border. 26 South Korean coast guardsmen killed. South Korean and North Korean fighter jets engage each other over the sea battle but do not fire upon each other.
  • 1974: The first North Korean infiltration tunnel into South Korea is discovered. Three following tunnels were found in 1975, 1978, 1990. The joint South Korean-U.S. investigation team trip a North Korean booby-trap, killing one American and wounding six others.
  • March 1975: The second North Korean infiltration tunnel is discovered.
  • June 1976: An incursion south of the DMZ in Gangwon-do leaves three dead from the North and six from the South.
  • August 18, 1976: The Axe murder incident— an attempt to trim a tree in the DMZ near Panmunjom— ends with two US soldiers dead and injuries to another four U.S. soldiers and five South Korean soldiers.
  • July 14, 1977: A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter is shot down after straying into the north over the DMZ. Three airmen are killed and one is briefly held prisoner. The Carter Administration apologized for the incident and paid reparations to North Korea.
  • October 1978: The third North Korean infiltration tunnel is discovered.
  • October 27, 1979: U.S. patrol fired upon at night after the assassination of South Korean President Park.
  • October 28, 1979: Second event U.S. patrol fired upon at night.
  • October 1979: Three North Korean agents attempting to infiltrate the eastern sector of the DMZ are intercepted, killing one of the agents.
  • December 6, 1979: A U.S. patrol in the DMZ accidentally crosses the MDL into a North Korean minefield in heavy fog. One U.S. soldier is killed and four are injured; the body is recovered from North Korea five days later.

    1980s

  • March 1980: Three North Koreans are killed while trying to cross the Han River estuary into the South.
  • May 1980: North Koreans engage US/ROK Outpost Ouellette on the DMZ in a firefight. One North Korean is wounded in action.
  • March 1981: Three North Koreans try to enter South Korea in Geumhwa-eup, Cheorwon, Gangwon-do; one is killed.
  • July 1981: Three North Koreans are killed trying to cross the upper Imjin River to the South.
  • May 1982: Two North Korean infiltrators are spotted on the east coast, with one being killed.
  • December 1983: U.S. soldiers encounter attempted infiltration of North Korean soldiers over the MDL south into the American sector but were repelled by the QRF deployed from Camp Greaves, South Korea.
  • December 3, 1983: South Korean troops capture a North Korean submersible and two North Korean frogmen. The submersible is now on display at the War Memorial of Korea.
  • April 1984: South Korean agents entered the DMZ near the Imjin River, a single agent killed by a landmine with body recovered by North Korean soldiers.
  • November 23, 1984: Three North Korean soldiers and one South Korean soldier are killed, and one American soldier wounded in a firefight that broke out after a Soviet defector fled across the DMZ into South Korea.
  • November 1987: One American soldier and two North Korean soldiers die, and one American soldier is wounded during the firefight that erupted when a North Korean security detail confronted a sniper detail across the MDL into the southern-controlled sector of the Joint Security Area.
  • November 1987: One South Korean killed at the DMZ central sector by North Korean sniper fire.