Seoul, March 23 (IANS): A fire that broke out in North Korea on Monday and was spreading towards the South Korean side of the inter-Korean border has been contained.

According to state-run YTN news, the fire which started from a North Korean guard post located some 600 metres north of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), spread to the South Korean side in front of the Dora Observatory in Paju early Monday morning, Xinhua news agency reported.

South Korean authorities said the blaze was extinguished in the afternoon. No casualties have been reported.

The Dora Observatory is South Korea's northernmost point on its western front, near which the inter-Korean transit office is situated for customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) for South Korean workers travelling to and from the inter-Korean factory park in North Korea's border city of Kaesong.

Going to and returning from the Kaesong industrial complex was banned.

The exact cause of the fire was not known but dry weather was believed to have contributed to the accident.

The Korean DMZ, the world's most heavily armed border, runs the width of the Korean Peninsula. It is guarded by more than two million troops on both sides.