By Jung Sung-ki
The South Korean military Monday picked up 30 more wooden-boxed North Korean landmines, believed to have been swept down to the South by heavy rains, in their search of three consecutive days near rivers and islands close to the West Sea border with the North, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
In the previous two days, a total of 36 in wooden boxes had been found. The search started after a 48-year-old South Korean man was killed Saturday following a blast of one of the mines near a restricted border area of Yeoncheon, 60 kilometers northeast of Seoul.
Of the 30 boxes found Monday, six were empty, the JCS said. Twenty nine of the 30 mines were found near Gyodong islet and the other from Boleum islet in Incheon, west of Seoul, it said.
A JCS spokesman said it’s unclear whether North Korea intentionally sent the mines to inflict damages on South Koreans or not, but it’s more likely that the mines drifted to the South due to the recent torrential rains.
“We understand that the North planted many wooden-boxed mines along the border,” the spokesman said.
On Sunday, the South Korean Army sent a message through a cross-border military hotline, demanding that the North prevent the recurrence of similar accidents.
The findings of North Korean mines come amid growing tension on the Korean Peninsula after the March 26 sinking of a South Korean warship in the West Sea.
A Seoul-led multinational investigation team determined in May that a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine brought down the ship, killing 46 sailors.