Seoul presses Pyongyang for apology after DMZ mine blast injures three

A border incident that left three South Korean personnel injured has quickly turned into another test of nerves on the Korean Peninsula. Seoul says landmine blasts in the Demilitarised Zone on 21 September happened on its side of the border and were highly likely caused by North Korean mines. It has now demanded an apology and said it will take corresponding measures.

South Korea’s Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul called the explosions a clear violation of the 1953 armistice, the agreement that ended active combat in the Korean War. That deal also created the 4km-wide Demilitarised Zone, the buffer strip that contains the Military Demarcation Line and separates the two Koreas.

North Korea has rejected the accusation and called Seoul’s account groundless. It also described the claim as a farce meant to escalate tensions on the peninsula. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement published by state media on Wednesday that South Korea had cooked up the allegations for political and military provocation.

Kim also denied that North Korean personnel had crossed the border to plant mines. She said the claim was a deliberate and planned attempt to shift responsibility for rising tensions onto North Korea, and warned the South to be prepared to pay the price for what she called its own farce.

Seoul says the mines are believed to have been laid by Pyongyang as part of efforts to fortify the border. In a separate statement on Wednesday, South Korea called on North Korea to apologise for the blast and to stop such fortification activity immediately.

The DMZ has seen sporadic clashes and mine explosions for decades. In 2015, two South Korean soldiers were maimed by landmines while patrolling the area, after Seoul said North Korean soldiers had secretly planted them near a South Korean guard post. Pyongyang denied that claim too, and Kim cited that episode this week as a pretext South Korea had used then and, in her view, is using again now.

The United Nations Command, which carried out on-site investigations together with the South Korean military, said it would handle the violation of the 1953 armistice through established Armistice mechanisms. It said it remains committed to maintaining and enforcing the Armistice Agreement and to preserving stability and preventing escalation on the Korean Peninsula.

Christopher Green, a senior consultant with Crisis Group, told the BBC that North Korea has been deliberately trying to harden the border and eliminate inter-Korean relations. He added that the two Koreas no longer have the same low-level communication they had in 2015, which leaves fewer channels for managing incidents when they occur.

Written by Christiane Hofreiter christiane.hofreiter@alpineweekly.com