North Korea has dismissed as a “farce” Seoul’s claim that Pyongyang was responsible for a landmine explosion south of the Military Demarcation Line that injured three South Korean soldiers.
Three South Korean soldiers were injured in the explosion about 10 metres south of the line on 21 September, two of them seriously.
North Korea’s rejection came in a statement from Kim Yo Jong, the powerful younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, after the South Korean military said on Monday that an initial assessment indicated the explosion was caused by North Korean mines.
Kim, a senior figure in the North Korean leadership, accused Seoul of fabricating evidence. She denied that North Korean troops had crossed the Military Demarcation Line.
“It is too low and dirty as befitting the tribes of South Korea,” she said in a statement carried by state media KCNA. “Such a farce is by no means new.”
South Korea's Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul said on Tuesday that Seoul would take “corresponding” action. He added that the mines had probably been laid as part of Pyongyang’s border fortification work.
The United Nations Command, which oversees the Korean Armistice Agreement, carried out a joint inspection with South Korean forces. It said investigators found another active North Korean anti-personnel mine south of the line and concluded that the armistice had been violated.
The command said it was addressing the breach through established armistice mechanisms.
Kim said Pyongyang had never hidden its border construction, calling it an exercise of sovereignty with no military purpose. She criticised Seoul for firing warning shots and warned that North Korean units would respond immediately if fired upon.
South Korea's military has demanded an apology and a halt to the work. Kim Min-seok, South Korea’s prime minister,also urged Pyongyang to apologise.
The row could complicate South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's efforts to reopen dialogue with the North. Pyongyang has been building barriers and roads, as well as laying mines along the frontier, since it redefined the South as a hostile state in 2024 rather than a partner for eventual reunification.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, said the statement appeared to lay the ground for future retaliation in response to South Korean warning shots or broadcasts near the border.
He said the North was building a narrative in which any clash would be presented as a response to South Korean provocation.
The 1953 armistice halted fighting in the Korean War but was never followed by a peace treaty. It created the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), a four-kilometre-wide buffer strip split down the middle by the Military Demarcation Line.
Despite its name, the DMZ remains one of the world's most heavily fortified and heavily mined frontiers.
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