South Korea has formally accused North Korea of deliberately laying anti-personnel mines south of the Military Demarcation Line. Three South Korean service members were injured by the mines last month.
This is reported by Yonhap, citing the findings of a joint investigation by the South Korean military and the UN Command.
Lieutenant General Kwon Dae-won, deputy chair of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said fragments of the mines recovered after the blasts match North Korean models.
He said the mines contained TNT and thermosetting resin components typical of North Korean anti-personnel mines. Their fragments also had the same brown casing and lattice pattern on the lid as mines in service with North Korea.
The South Korean military noted that North Korean mines sometimes end up south of the Military Demarcation Line after floods. However, the mines that caused the latest explosions were buried in the ground at a depth of about 3 to 10 centimetres.
Experts from the UN Command also concluded that the mines were deliberately planted about a year ago.
During an additional survey of the area, the military found several more mines about 10 metres south of the Military Demarcation Line. As a result, South Korea began demining operations.
On Monday, the military carried out its first operation to detonate mines remotely. Seoul said it would continue demining if North Korea does not remove the mines it has laid itself.
“We strongly urge North Korea to offer a sincere apology to the South Korean soldiers injured by the mine blast and to immediately remove the other mines laid in violation of the Armistice Agreement,” Kwon said.
- The Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950–1953 Korean War prohibits hostile acts in and near the Demilitarised Zone. The document also bans crossing the Military Demarcation Line without permission from the Military Armistice Commission.
- Since April 2024, North Korea has been strengthening fortifications along its section of the inter-Korean border, installing wire and anti-tank barriers and minefields. This follows Kim Jong-un’s statement that relations between the two Koreas should be viewed as relations between two hostile states.
- At the same time, Pyongyang denies responsibility for the recent explosions in the Demilitarised Zone.