Seoul concludes North Korea responsible for DMZ land mine explosions
Lt. Gen. Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announces the final findings of an investigation into the Sept. 21 land mine explosions in the Demilitarized Zone at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
JCS says removal operations will continue unless Pyongyang voluntarily clears minefield
South Korea’s military said Monday it has concluded that North Korean forces planted mines south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), in a violation of the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement.
The conclusion, drawing on a joint on-site investigation with the United Nations Command (UNC) and forensic findings from the National Forensic Service, came about two weeks after the Sept. 21 land mine explosions injured three South Korean troops.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it carried out a mine-clearance operation in the area earlier in the day, demanding an apology from Pyongyang and warning that Seoul would continue removing North Korean mines south of the MDL unless the North clears the mines voluntarily.
“In conclusion, based on the results of the joint investigation with the UNC and scientific evidence, we have determined that our troops conducting routine DMZ operations sustained serious injuries from North Korean plastic anti-personnel mines planted south of the MDL, under the pretext of North Korea’s so-called border-fortification work,” JCS Vice Chairman Lt. Gen. Kwon Dae-won said at the press briefing room of the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul.
The explosions occurred in the western sector of the DMZ. Two of the victims remain hospitalized with serious injuries, while a third is receiving treatment for less significant wounds.
Kwon said the assessment incorporated findings on the blast locations, the type and origin of the mines, and whether they had been deliberately placed rather than accidently carried into the area by flooding.
GPS measurements by the South Korea-UNC joint investigation team determined that both blast sites and the location where an additional North Korean mine was found on Sept. 29 were all about 10 meters south of the MDL, Kwon said. The team concluded that the North violated the armistice agreement, he added.
Examinations by the National Forensic Service corroborated the conclusion. A comparison of fragments recovered from the injured soldiers’ bodies with North Korean plastic anti-personnel mines previously collected from the Imjin River found that they were made of the same material.
Maj. Gen. Yang Jin-hyuk, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s director of operations, holds up a previously recovered North Korean plastic anti-personnel mine during a briefing at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
The military also concluded that the mines had been buried, rather than washed southward by rain or flooding. Soldiers at the scene said the mines they observed had been buried 5 to 10 centimeters underground, while an unexploded North Korean mine found near the site was buried about 3 centimeters below the surface, according to the JCS.
“The UNC also assessed that the mines had been deliberately placed there and were laid within the past 12 months,” Kwon said. “Considering the spacing between the recovered mine and the blast craters, and the distance between the craters, it was determined to be typical buried North Korean mines, not mines displaced into the area.”
South Korea’s operation was intended to remove the mines south of the MDL, Kwon said. The operation was conducted safely in close coordination with the UNC, he added.
“If North Korea does not voluntarily remove the minefields it installed south of the MDL, our military will continue operations to clear those mines for the peace of the DMZ and the safety of our service members,” Kwon said. “We strongly urge North Korea to offer a sincere apology to our service members injured in the mine explosions and to immediately remove the mines it planted in violation of the Armistice Agreement.”
The incident comes as the Lee Jae Myung administration seeks to reduce inter-Korean military tensions and revive dialogue with Pyongyang under its policy of peaceful coexistence. After the mission, a defense ministry official said it is considering additional measures.