Seoul blames North Korean mines for DMZ blast and warns of response

South Korea has blamed North Korean mines for an explosion in the demilitarised zone that injured two South Korean personnel last week, warning that Pyongyang would face a response. Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul told a parliamentary committee that the mines appeared to have been planted as part of North Korea’s border fortification work near the Military Demarcation Line dividing the DMZ. Kang said the incident violated the Korean War armistice agreement.

He said responsibility lay with North Korea and that South Korea had response options available, which would be implemented in stages. He did not provide details. The minister said an issue under examination was whether North Korea had placed the mines knowing that South Korean troops could enter the area and be injured.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said an investigation conducted with the United Nations Command found another North Korean resin anti-personnel mine near the site of the September 21 blast. It said the newly discovered mine differed from those believed to have caused the explosion. JCS Vice-Chairman Kwon Dae-won said the mines did not appear to have drifted into the area.

The United Nations Command assessed that they had been found clearly south of the Military Demarcation Line. The incident comes as President Lee Jae Myung seeks to reopen dialogue with North Korea. Pyongyang has declared South Korea an enemy state and abandoned its longstanding goal of peaceful reunification, according to the report.

North Korean state media has not commented. North Korea’s mission to the United Nations and its embassies in Beijing and Singapore did not immediately respond to requests for comment.