Unification ministry vows dialogue over hard-line response to DMZ blast
Maj. Gen. Yang Jin-hyuk, director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shows a North Korean plastic antipersonnel mine collected by the South Korean military, a device it says is identical to the North Korea-planted mine that injured South Korean troops in a blast, Sept. 21, during a press briefing at the defense ministry headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
The unification ministry said Tuesday it will keep seeking peaceful solutions to inter-Korean issues, reiterating its commitment to seeking dialogue following the recent explosions of North Korea-planted land mines inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that injured three South Korean military officers.
The statement came a day after Seoul's defense ministry concluded North Korea was behind the Sept. 21 land mine explosions.
The ministry said it would consider the next steps with relevant government agencies, including the defense ministry.
"We will keep working to break the vicious cycle of hostility and confrontation, and to build a virtuous cycle of peace and prosperity," it said, adding it would pursue lasting peace "through communication rather than a hard-line standoff."
The South Korean military on Monday announced the final results of its joint investigation with the U.N. Command into the blast, confirming its preliminary findings that resin antipersonnel mines deliberately planted by Pyongyang south of the Military Demarcation Line caused the explosion.
The military conducted a mine-clearing operation at the site in response.