North Korea Denies Blaming Blasts That Injured Three South Korean Soldiers
The exchange risks deepening a standoff between the Koreas as military fortification along the frontier replaces stalled diplomatic efforts.
South Korea demanded an apology from North Korea over landmine explosions that wounded three South Korean officers inside the Demilitarized Zone, while Pyongyang dismissed the allegations as an engineered provocation.
The two blasts took place Sept. 21 south of the Military Demarcation Line on the western front. Troops encountered the devices during an operation to establish a patrol route in an area rarely visited for decades. The explosions severed one officer's foot at the ankle and left two other personnel injured.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the detonations were caused by North Korean mines placed across the border. Officials noted that South Korean forces had not laid mines in that sector. Investigators also recovered blast debris and another suspected device at the scene.
The United States-led United Nations Command, which oversees the 1953 armistice halting the Korean War, inspected the site alongside South Korean investigators. The command confirmed it found an active North Korean anti-personnel mine on the southern side of the boundary. It stated that the presence of the device constituted an armistice violation.
Kang Hyun-woo, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urged Pyongyang to take responsible measures and halt border fortification. South Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul told lawmakers that Seoul would consider corresponding steps.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, rejected the findings through state media. She described the South Korean claim as a conspiratorial farce intended to create a pretext for escalation. She asserted that northern troops had never crossed the border line.
She also warned that North Korea would carry out immediate military retaliation if southern troops fired directly at personnel working on border defenses. North Korean forces have spent months installing anti-tank barriers, building fences and planting mines along the frontier.
The confrontation mirrors an August 2015 incident where two South Korean soldiers suffered severe injuries from landmines inside the buffer zone. That explosion led to artillery fire and retaliatory loudspeaker broadcasts before negotiators de-escalated tensions.
The United Nations Command said it is now handling the recent border violation through established armistice mechanisms.
