Photo : YONHAP News
The South Korean military has concluded that resin-cased antipersonnel mines planted south of the Military Demarcation Line by North Korea were the cause of a blast inside the Demilitarized Zone on September 21 that injured three South Korean soldiers.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-won said at a press briefing Monday that the conclusion was the result of a joint investigation with the United Nations Command, including GPS data showing that the blast sites were south of the Military Demarcation Line, scientific evidence identifying the mines as North Korean antipersonnel mines and indications that they had been deliberately planted rather than displaced.
Personnel present at the scene testified that the mines had been buried 5 to 10 centimeters underground. Another North Korean mine found at the site had been buried about three centimeters beneath the surface.
Around 12:51 p.m. on Monday, the South Korean military launched an operation to remove the North Korean mines from the area surrounding the point of the blast.
The JCS vice chairman also urged North Korea to sincerely apologize to the injured South Korean soldiers and to immediately remove the remaining mines that had been planted in violation of the armistice agreement.