Explosions in North Korea heard in South

SEOUL, Dec 4 (Reuters) Explosions were heard in North Korea by people in the South today, but South Korean military officials said they were likely caused by construction or regular military drills.

The explosions, two or three in number, were heard near the centre of the peninsula by the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the Koreas and near a North Korean training field, local media reported.

''We do not specifically know what caused the explosions,'' an official from South Korea Joints Chiefs of Staff said. ''But it is possible they may have been related to construction, artillery training or landmines.'' The North conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9 in the northeastern part of country, far from the DMZ.

The DMZ is a four-km wide strip of land that runs 248 km across the Korean peninsula and is littered with landmines. It serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea, which remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armed truce instead of a peace agreement.

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