Roundup: S. Korea accuses DPRK of planting landmines, injuring 2 soldiers

South Korea's military on Monday accused the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of planting anti-personnel landmines after violating the military demarcation line (MDL) that had wounded two South Korean soldiers on a regular patrol duty in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) a week ago.

On Aug. 4, two staff sergeants of the First Infantry Division's search battalion were maimed after explosion of landmines " assuredly" buried by DPRK forces, the military said.

Maj. Gen. Koo Hong-mo, head of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a press briefing that two South Korean soldiers, who were conducting regular search operations on the South side of the DMZ in the west border, suffered heavy injury after the detonation of landmines which had been assuredly buried by the DPRK.

Koo said that DPRK forces must have illegally violated the MDL to intentionally bury PMD series mines, citing the result of an on- site investigation jointly conducted by South Korea's military and the United Nations Command's military armistice commission.

He said that such DPRK provocations were in violation of the armistice agreement and the non-aggression treaty between the two Koreas, calling for the DPRK's apology and its punishment of those responsible for it.

The military officer noted that the DPRK would pay a costly price for its provocations as the South Korean military has repeatedly warned.

According to the joint investigation, the debris from the mine explosion was the same as part of the DPRK's PMD series mines, or Russian blast-type anti-personnel mines consisting of a wooden box within which explosives and a detonator are installed. The mines have a maximum casualty radius of 2 meters.

The explosion occurred about 2 kilometers north of the South Korean military's general outposts and 440 meters south of the MDL, indicating that DPRK troops secretly walked 440 meters south from the MDL to bury the mines, the military said.

Heavy rain fell for three days from July 24, but it had no possibility for the DPRK mines to be carried down by the flood as the South side near the explosion site lies on a higher ground, said Brig. Gen. Ahn Young-ho who led the 24-member joint investigation team.

All the mines on the South side were already removed when the military recently built new barbed wires near the explosion site, and other soldiers conducted search operations without any accident on July 22, Ahn noted.

Ahn said that there has been no rust or corrosion detected from the mines debris, adding that the landmines had been buried recently. The military estimated that DPRK soldiers buried the mines between July 26 and Aug. 1.

It marked the first time in about 50 years that South Korean soldiers were injured by the explosion of the DPRK-buried mines. Endi