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South vows retaliation against NK mine attack
Video footage shows the moment a landmine exploded in the Demilitarized Zone on Aug. 4, wounding two South Korean soldiers. / Courtesy of the Joint Chief of Staff
By Jun Ji-hye
Seoul resumes loudspeaker propaganda
By Jun Ji-hye
A Ministry of Defense official shows a replica of a North Korean-made wooden box antipersonnel landmine. / Yonhap
South Korea blamed North Korea for landmine blasts that wounded two soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) last week, vowing to make the reclusive regime pay “a harsh price,” Monday.
The Ministry of National Defense accused North Korean soldiers of planting three land mines inside the South Korean-controlled side of the DMZ, calling it “a cowardly act.”
Defense Minister Han Min-koo ordered South Korean troops there to firmly respond to additional provocations.
Later in the day, the ministry said it resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasting from the border areas as the first step in retaliation. The measure came 11 years after the two Koreas agreed to suspend it in June, 2004.
This is part of a psychological warfare program, to which the North has reacted sensitively.
The U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) also blamed Pyongyang for the explosion. It said the provocation is a violation of the Armistice Agreement signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The UNC called for general-led dialog with the North Korean People’s Army over the matter.
The latest provocation by the North came just weeks before a scheduled annual military exercise, Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), between South Korea and the United States.
The incident is expected to further worsen the already strained relations between the two Koreas.
The explosions took place on the morning of Aug. 4 inside the DMZ near Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Eight South Korean 1st Infantry Division soldiers were on routine patrol at the time.
“The explosives were wooden-box mines that the North Korean army uses,” said Army Brig. Gen. Ahn Young-ho, who headed a joint probe into the explosion, referring to mine debris found at the site.
“It is almost clear that the enemy deliberately laid the three mines with the intention to harm South Korean forces, after crossing the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).”
He said the North is believed to have buried the mines between July 26 and Aug. 1, considering South Korean soldiers conducted a patrol mission there without any problems on July 22, and then it rained heavily there from July 24 to 26.
Ahn ruled out the possibility that the mines had drifted from their original locations due to rain or shifting soil.
He added the blast site had previously been a mine-free zone where South Korean troops cleared all the mines before setting up a fence to conduct regular search missions.
The North’s anti-personnel mine with a 2-meter radius has explosives and detonators in boxes made with wood from pine trees. Ahn said members of the investigation team could smell the strong resinous scent of pine trees on the mine debris.
In the wake of the explosion, a staff sergeant indentified only by the surname of Ha lost both his legs from below the knees, while another staff sergeant surnamed Kim had his right foot amputated from the ankle.
South Korean soldiers at the scene tried to move out of the site with their wounded comrades by crawling as they believed they were under attack by the enemy.
The special investigation team ― which included UNC staff members from South Korea, the U.S., New Zealand and Colombia ― conducted its probe on Aug. 5 and 6 with Swiss and Swedish members of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission observing.
“The investigation determined that the devices were recently placed… and concluded that the North Korean People’s Army violated paragraphs 6, 7 and 8 of the Armistice Agreement,” the UNC said in a statement.
The DMZ is a 4-kilometer wide buffer zone separating South and North Korea, the legacy of a ceasefire after the Korean War.
This was the first mine explosion in the DMZ masterminded by the North since similar incidents took place in the mid-1960s, the ministry said.
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