What measures did South Korea demand from North Korea over the border mine incident?

South Korean Ambassador Cha Ji-hoon urged North Korea to apologize, stop escalatory actions and take responsible measures. He also called on Pyongyang to return to full compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

How did North Korea respond to South Korea’s accusation at the United Nations?

North Korea rejected Seoul’s claim, calling it an attempt by the South Korean military to shift blame for its own actions. Its representative also defended North Korea’s nuclear weapons as an inevitable choice to protect its sovereignty against what Pyongyang described as a decadeslong U.S. nuclear threat.

S. Korea urges N. Korea to take 'responsible measures' over mine explosion incident at UN

Q: What did South Korea say about the Sept. 21 land mine explosion near the inter-Korean border?

South Korea said a joint investigation by its military and the United Nations Command, supported by forensic analysis, confirmed that North Korean forces deliberately planted the land mine south of the Military Demarcation Line. Seoul called the incident a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement.

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Summary

South Korea urged North Korea to take responsible measures at a U.N. meeting in New York Thursday after a Sept. 21 land mine explosion near the inter-Korean border injured three South Korean soldiers. South Korean Ambassador Cha Ji-hoon said a joint investigation confirmed that North Korean forces deliberately planted the mine south of the Military Demarcation Line, violating the Armistice Agreement. North Korea rejected the accusation and defended its nuclear weapons program as necessary to protect its sovereignty.

Key Facts

The joint investigation involved the South Korean military and the United Nations Command and was supported by forensic analysis.
Cha Ji-hoon called on North Korea to apologize, cease escalatory actions and return to full compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.
North Korea described South Korea’s accusation as an attempt to shift blame for its own actions and portrayed Pyongyang’s border fortification efforts as being misrepresented as a military incursion.

By Yonhap

Published Oct 9, 2026 8:28 am KST

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 Defense Ministry in Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

South Korea urged North Korea to take "responsible measures" Thursday at the United Nations, accusing Pyongyang of violating the Armistice Agreement by deliberately planting a land mine that injured three South Korean soldiers near the inter-Korean border last month.

During a committee meeting of the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, South Korean Ambassador to the U.N. Cha Ji-hoon said a joint investigation by the South Korean military and the United Nations Command (UNC) confirmed that a Sept. 21 explosion was caused by a land mine deliberately planted by North Korean forces south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating the two Koreas.

"A joint on-site investigation by ROK military and the UNC supported by forensic analysis confirmed that the explosion was caused by a landmine deliberately planted by DPRK forces south of the military demarcation line," Cha said, referring to the two Koreas by their official names, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, respectively.

Cha said the incident constituted a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement, adding, "We urge the DPRK to cease such escalatory actions upon apology and take responsible measures."

The North Korean representative, however, rejected Seoul's accusation, describing it as an attempt to portray Pyongyang's efforts to fortify its southern border as a military incursion.

"This is no more than poor trick of the ROK military to shift the blame of its own onto the DPRK," the representative said.

The Koreas also reiterated their opposing positions on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Cha reaffirmed Seoul's commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and called on North Korea to return to full compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The North Korean representative defended Pyongyang's nuclear weapons as an inevitable choice to protect its sovereignty against what it described as the "decadeslong U.S. nuclear threat."

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