The personnel assessed the safety of the movement route and examined the overall operational environment, including surveillance and communications conditions, before withdrawing from the site.
"Our military is continuously preparing so that a thorough joint on-site investigation can be conducted with the UNC while ensuring the safety of our troops," the JCS said. "We will thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident and explain it to the public in an objective and transparent manner." It added, "Operational plans, including the on-site investigation schedule, are classified. If exposed, they could pose a grave threat to the safety of our troops and the investigation team, so we ask for discretion."
On Sept. 21, three officers, including a reconnaissance battalion commander (a lieutenant colonel), were injured in the blast, believed to have been caused by a landmine, while carrying out an operation to open a new search route in the DMZ on the western front. They belonged to the Army's 25th Division reconnaissance unit and an engineer unit under its command, and a total of 18 personnel — 15 officers and three enlisted soldiers — took part in the operation. Two, including the reconnaissance battalion commander, were seriously injured and the other suffered minor injuries; all are receiving treatment and recovering.
The on-site investigation team to be deployed to the scene plans to begin its mission as soon as preparations, including safety measures, are complete.
Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of the JCS and head of the joint on-site investigation task force, the MAC secretary and about 20 operational personnel were deployed to the site that day.
