By Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, Sept 29 (Reuters) – South Korea’s defence minister said on Tuesday North Korean mines caused a blast last week that injured two South Korean personnel in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), adding that the incident violated the Korean War armistice agreement and warranted a response from Seoul.
Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul told a parliamentary committee that the mines appeared to have been planted in the area as part of North Korea’s border fortification work near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) that bisects the DMZ separating the two Koreas.
“The responsibility lies with North Korea, so we will take corresponding measures,” Kang said, adding the military had response options available and would implement them in stages, while declining to elaborate.
Kang also said Seoul would seek to engage North Korea directly over the incident.
“We will strongly urge them to come to the table so that we can verify the facts together,” he said.
Kang said the intent in question was whether North Korea had emplaced the mines knowing South Korean troops could enter the area and suffer harm.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said a probe conducted with the United Nations Command found an additional North Korean resin anti-personnel mine near the September 21 blast site.
JCS Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-won said the mines did not appear to have drifted into the blast area and that the United Nations Command assessed they were found clearly south of the MDL.
Following a similar incident in 2015 in which South Korean troops were injured by North Korean mines, Seoul resumed anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts across the DMZ, triggering a military standoff that ended with a high-level inter-Korean agreement.
SEOUL’S DIALOGUE PUSH TESTED
The latest blast comes at a time when South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sought to draw North Korea back to dialogue, after Pyongyang declared South Korea an enemy state and abandoned its long-standing goal of peaceful reunification.
Cho Han-bum of the Korea Institute for National Unification said the incident could complicate Lee’s effort to improve ties with Pyongyang, but Seoul was unlikely to abandon attempts at dialogue altogether.
“Given its peace policy stance, the (Lee) administration has little alternative but to deal with this through established procedures,” Cho said, adding that the president would need to balance a response to the incident with its broader efforts to stabilise relations with Pyongyang.
North Korean state media has not commented on the incident. North Korea’s mission to the UN and embassies in Beijing and Singapore did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The United Nations Command also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on South Korean officials’ statements.
(Reporting by Kyu-seok ShimEditing by Ed Davies)
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