Roundup: Inter-Korean tensions rise on mine explosion, military exercise

Tensions between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have escalated as two South Korean soldiers were maimed by landmines on the South side of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) ahead of the scheduled annual war games between Seoul and Washington.

South Korea's presidential office said Tuesday that the mines explosion was a "clear provocation," urging the DPRK to apologize for it and punish those responsible.

On Aug. 4, three landmines were detonated on the South side of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in the west border, injuring two staff sergeants on a regular patrol duty. One underwent a double- leg amputation and the other lost a leg.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said Monday that the detonation was caused by landmines "assuredly" planted by DPRK forces below the path frequented by South Korean soldiers.

According to a joint on-site investigation between the South Korean military and the United Nations Command's military armistice commission, the DPRK troops were believed to have sneaked across the heavily-fortified border between July 26 and Aug. 1 to secretly bury the mines.

The explosion occurred a day before the widow of late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung launched a four-day trip to Pyongyang until last Saturday. Some hoped that her DPRK visit could pave the way for rapprochement on the peninsula, but she failed to meet with top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.

On the same day when Lee Hee-ho flew to Pyongyang, South Korea' s unification ministry sent a letter to its DPRK counterpart to propose the reunion of Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, the joint celebratory event between the two Koreas to mark the 70th anniversary of the peninsula's liberation from Japan 's colonial rule and the senior-level inter-Korean dialogue. The DPRK refused to receive the letter.

Amid the growing military tensions, South Korea and the United States were expected to launch their joint annual military exercises early next week as scheduled. The "Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG)" computer-assisted simulation exercise tended to kick off in mid-August.

Seoul and Pyongyang haven't held any senior-level inter- governmental talks since February 2014. The annual war games between Seoul and Washington have been criticized by Pyongyang as rehearsal for the northward invasion.

The Seoul-Washington war games may drive Pyongyang to launch a new long-range rocket, denounced by South Korea as the test-firing of long-range ballistic missile, around the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea on Oct. 10.

The DPRK recently erected a 67-meter-high launch tower at a rocket base near the west coast to extend the 50-meter launch pad, with which the DPRK fired a three-stage Unha rocket in December 2012. Its third nuclear test was conducted two months later.

To retaliate against the DPRK's landmine provocations, South Korea's military resumed loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in 11 years on Monday in the frontline army units. The propaganda broadcasts for the psychological warfare had never been aired since June 2004 following an inter-Korean agreement.

The South Korean military is reportedly considering a prompt response of "aimed shots" at DPRK forces violating the military demarcation line (MDL), skipping the current procedure of warning shots and warnings broadcasts to more actively respond to future DPRK provocations in the land border.

Aug. 15 marks the 70th anniversary of the peninsula's liberation from the Japanese colonization, but South Korea had yet to agree on any joint celebratory event with the DPRK, even in the private sector, amid rising tensions. Endi