South Korea has demanded an apology from North Korea after landmine explosions along their shared border injured three South Korean military personnel earlier this month.
The explosions occurred on September 21 on the South Korean side of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), the 4km-wide buffer separating the two Koreas. South Korea’s military said Tuesday that the mines were “highly likely” to have been planted by North Korea. Seoul said the incident violated the 1953 armistice that ended active fighting in the Korean War and warned that it would take corresponding measures.
In a statement on Wednesday, South Korea called on Pyongyang to apologise and immediately halt what it described as border fortification activities. North Korea has rejected responsibility for the explosions, dismissing Seoul’s claims as groundless. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accused South Korea of using the incident to provoke political and military tensions.
Kim also denied that North Korean personnel had crossed the border to plant the mines. She described Seoul’s allegation as an attempt to shift responsibility for rising tensions onto Pyongyang and warned that South Korea would pay a price for what she called a fabricated claim.
South Korea maintains that North Korea has been laying mines as part of efforts to strengthen its border. Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul previously described the explosions as a clear violation of the armistice.
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The DMZ was established under the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement and contains the Military Demarcation Line that separates the two countries. Although large-scale fighting has not resumed since the armistice, the border has remained a source of periodic military confrontations and mine incidents.
A similar dispute occurred in 2015, when two South Korean soldiers were seriously injured by landmines while patrolling near a South Korean guard post. Seoul accused North Korean troops of secretly placing the mines, while Pyongyang denied the allegation. Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated further since then, reducing communication channels that previously helped manage incidents along the heavily fortified border.
