US troops deny taunting North Korean soldiers with 'disgusting acts'

The North Korean military accused US troops of “mocking” North Korean soldiers by pointing their fingers at them, making strange noises and pulling “disgusting” facial expressions

South Korean soldiers look at the North side while US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visits the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas in 2015 (Getty Images)

Claims US troops taunted North Korea's army with “disgusting acts” have been dismissed by the American-led UN command.

The North Korean military accused US troops in the demilitarised border village of Panmunjom of “mocking” North Korean soldiers by pointing their fingers at them, making strange noises and pulling “disgusting” facial expressions in a statement on Friday.

It also accused American soldiers of encouraging South Korean troops to aim their guns at the Korean People’s Army (KPA) at the Oryonggye guard post on 20 and 21 April, insisting the “dangerous provocations” began on 7 April and continued until 26 April, Yonhap news agency reports.

The statement warned US troops to stop the “hooliganism” or face “dog’s death any time any place”.

"The US imperialists and their stooges should not forget even for a moment what a miserable end they will meet as they recklessly act in the area at the risk of death,” a KPA spokesman said, the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports.

Spokesman for the UN command, Christopher Bush, said it had looked into the allegations and found them to be unsubstantiated.

The accusations came a day after South Korean and US officials said two suspected medium-range missile launched by North Korea ended in failure.

The North Korean military insinuated the “serious provocations” were “timed to coincide” with the annual joint US-South Korea military exercises, which began in March and are set to end on Saturday.

This is not the first time allegations of unruly behaviour have been made between the two sides. In 2006, US troops claimed North Korean soldiers spat across the border’s demarcation line, made throat slashing gestures and flashed their middle fingers following Pyongyang’s first nuclear bomb test.

Around 28,000 American troops are deployed in the so-called "Truce Village" of Panmunjom, just north of the de facto border between North and South Korea, which saw the signing of the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement that paused the Korean War.

The village is visited regularly by tourists who are warned not to make gestures that could anger North Korean soldiers nearby.

Additional reporting by Associated Press