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South Korea said North Korea deliberately planted two mines inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where they exploded last month and injured three South Korean soldiers. Seoul renewed its demand for an apology from Pyongyang.
North Korea has denied responsibility for the Sept. 21 incident and accused South Korea of using what it called “cheap tricks” to tarnish its image.
“The military strongly calls on North Korea to offer a sincere apology to the South Korean soldiers injured in the mine blast and immediately remove the mines it planted in violation of the armistice agreement,” Lt. Gen. Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said at a news conference.
The JCS said an operation conducted with the UN Command had removed additional mines found near the blast site. It said the mines that exploded contained TNT and thermosetting resin components consistent with North Korean mines.
Fragments recovered from the wounded soldiers were also found to match North Korean plastic antipersonnel mines previously recovered from the Imjin River, the JCS said.
The mines were found about 10 metres (33 feet) south of the Military Demarcation Line, indicating they had been planted there rather than swept into the area, Yonhap News reported.
The Korean Peninsula has remained divided since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.
