North Korea on Saturday warned of retaliatory strikes days after South Korea fired warning shots at a North Korean patrol near the border

North Korea on Saturday warned of retaliatory strikes days after South Korea fired warning shots at a North Korean patrol near the border.
  
South Korean troops on Monday fired warning shots as the North's patrol approached the military demarcation line (MDL) that designates the border, but there was no exchange of fire and the group eventually turned back.
  
"The south Korean puppet military warmongers should be mindful that such reckless military provocations in the area of MDL may invite unforeseeable retaliation strikes, which will immediately lead to a great war of justice for national reunification", the Front Command of the North's military said.
  
"If they continue the military provocation despite our warning, they will have to pay at the cost of their blood."
  
There have been a series of minor skirmishes, involving exchanges of fire but no casualties, along the inter-Korean land and sea borders in recent months. The two Koreas are still technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.