South Korea's military said North Korean land mines were highly likely responsible for explosions inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that seriously wounded two of its soldiers and lightly injured a third. Seoul called the incident a violation of the armistice and vowed to take "corresponding measures" against Pyongyang.
The preliminary findings were announced on Monday, Sept. 28, after troops made a second attempt to reach the blast site and collect evidence; a first attempt a day earlier failed because of fading daylight and other operational limits. Lt. Gen. Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said forensic analysis of fragments found brown residue but no metal shards or shrapnel, suggesting South Korean mines were not the cause. Witnesses also reported seeing a brown North Korean resin anti-personnel mine about one meter from the main explosion site. Together with the size of the crater, the flame pattern and the nature of the injuries, this led the military to its conclusion. Kwon said two mines exploded in the incident, which took place on Sept. 21, and that a third, unexploded mine was found as the soldiers withdrew. One soldier lost a foot.
On Tuesday, Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul told a parliamentary hearing the case was "a clear violation of the armistice agreement" and that, since North Korea bears responsibility, Seoul would act. He said the military has a range of measures available and will apply them "in stages", without giving details. A Joint Chiefs official told lawmakers that a site investigation that day found an unexploded North Korean plastic anti-personnel mine.
Kang said the soldiers were clearing the area ahead of a joint operation with the UN Command to assess terrain changes caused by North Korean forces south of the Military Demarcation Line, the effective border. Dense vegetation hampered detection, he said, and the military's current assessment is that the mine detectors, though the latest models, may have been held too far above the ground to find the mines.
The DMZ is a heavily mined buffer zone that has divided the two Koreas since the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War. Because that conflict ended with a truce rather than a peace treaty, the two sides remain technically at war. Since 2024, when leader Kim Jong Un designated South Korea his country's "principal enemy," North Korea has laid mines and built anti-tank barriers along the frontier as part of efforts to seal it off permanently.
Landmine incidents have raised tensions before. In 2015, two South Korean soldiers were badly hurt in a blast on the southern side of the DMZ, and one lost both legs. Seoul said North Korean troops had crossed the line to plant the mines, which Pyongyang denied, and South Korea then resumed anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts along the border. Seoul has said its current conclusion is preliminary, pending a final investigation.