The South Korean military has adjusted its criteria for identifying North Korean incursions across the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) since last year amid efforts to avoid clashes due to repeated crossings by troops north of the border.

South Korean troops have prioritized the physical markers inside the Demilitarized Zone to determine the boundaries of the MDL, the actual border separating the Korean Peninsula, a Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson said during a briefing on Monday.

For areas where border markers are not visible, South Korean troops will use “a combined evaluation of the MDL on military maps and the line