The People Power Party and other opposition forces are stepping up their attacks over what they call a delayed field investigation by the government and the military into a suspected landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone on the western front. South Korean troops and the United Nations Command reached the area near the suspected blast site on the 27th, six days after the incident, but the opposition says the delay has raised the risk that evidence at the scene has been lost.
According to political sources on the 28th, the People Power Party plans to pursue a parliamentary review to determine why the field investigation into the suspected landmine blast was delayed. The party is pressing the government and military authorities by calling for questioning at National Assembly standing committees and a joint hearing, and by raising the possibility of a full parliamentary investigation.
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk said at a press briefing at the National Assembly the previous day that "there is a very high possibility that this landmine explosion was caused by a wooden-box mine that North Korean troops recently laid after crossing the Military Demarcation Line. If so, it is a clear act of aggression." He added, "And yet the military says it began only preparatory work, not a full investigation, five days after the incident."
"If President Lee Jae-myung deliberately delayed the field investigation, that is a clear act of aiding the enemy. It constitutes a crime of foreign aggression, which falls outside the president's immunity from prosecution," Jang said, continuing his sharp criticism. "It is a crime that warrants not only impeachment but immediate detention and trial."
Jang planned to meet Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul that day to ask directly about the circumstances of the incident and the military's response. The People Power Party says it must also verify when the president was briefed at the time of the incident and how the military handled its initial response.
People Power Party members of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee also took issue with the government's handling of the incident. Committee chairman Song Seok-joon and Rep. Kim Dae-sik, the committee liaison for the party, asked, "Our soldier lost a foot during an operation, so why was there no immediate effort to determine where the explosive came from?" They added, "Is there a fear that it will turn out to be North Korea's doing? Explain in full why the field investigation was put off, and apologize."
Song said the committee is considering whether to hold a session of questioning on the issue. Rep. Na Kyung-won of the People Power Party called for a joint hearing involving the standing committees handling foreign affairs and security. She argued that a full parliamentary investigation should follow depending on the outcome of the hearing.
Independent Rep. Han Dong-hoon has also raised the issue of the delayed field investigation on consecutive days. "Evidence of the mine attack that severed our soldier's foot could be washed away by heavy rain," he wrote on Facebook. "This is not the fault of weather that was already forecast. It is the fault of the Lee Jae-myung administration, which deliberately failed to conduct a field investigation and left the site unattended." He staged a one-person protest in front of the Ministry of National Defense during the Chuseok holiday, calling for a prompt field investigation.
Meanwhile, the military and the U.N. Command conducted a detailed mine search along a movement route inside the DMZ and worked to widen an additional route starting on the morning of the 27th. The survey team consisted of about 40 people, including South Korean troops, U.N. Command personnel and investigators, and approached an area adjacent to the suspected blast site. Considering the danger of the unconfirmed minefield and the fatigue of the survey personnel, however, the team ended the operation before sunset without reaching the point of the explosion. The military and the U.N. Command plan to continue the investigation.
The incident occurred on the morning of the 21st in an area south of the Military Demarcation Line inside the DMZ, under the jurisdiction of the Army's 25th Division in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Two explosions believed to have been caused by landmines occurred during an operation to clear a search route, seriously injuring two officers, including a search battalion commander, and leaving one with minor injuries.
