The Democratic Party of Korea is moving to issue a statement condemning North Korea for violating the armistice agreement following a landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone along the western front. The push follows the discovery of an additional resin-cased anti-personnel mine of the type used by the North Korean military near the site of the accident, leading to a determination that North Korean mines had been laid as far south as below the Military Demarcation Line.
Rep. Kim Byung-joo, the Democratic Party's liaison on the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, said at a party general meeting at the National Assembly on the 29th that "our soldiers were wounded by a North Korean mine 10 meters south of the Military Demarcation Line, and it has been confirmed that North Korea laid mines as far as south of the line." He added, "North Korea has clearly violated the armistice agreement, and we view this as a provocation." He said he had "proposed that the National Defense Committee issue a statement condemning North Korea," adding that "our party must also condemn North Korea and work out a response."
Kim said additional North Korean mines had been found during a joint on-site investigation by the South Korean military and the United Nations Command. "Following the first and second rounds of the investigation on the 27th and 28th, the investigation team went in again today and found one more new mine," he said. "In addition to the two that exploded and the one our soldiers witnessed, another North Korean mine was confirmed today."
The Joint Chiefs of Staff also said that day that a joint on-site investigation by the military and the U.N. Command had found one resin-cased anti-personnel mine of the type used by the North Korean military near the accident site. The mine found that day was assessed to be separate from the unexploded mine that soldiers taking part in the operation said they had witnessed at the time of the accident. As of the previous day, military authorities had assessed that the cause of the explosion was "highly likely a North Korean military mine," but the discovery of an additional North Korean mine has added further weight to that conclusion.
Kim also directly rebutted allegations of a "delayed investigation" raised by the People Power Party. "It is fake news that the U.N. Command asked for an investigation first and that we refused at the outset," he said. "From immediately after the accident, we consulted closely with the U.N. Command and agreed to conduct the investigation as quickly as possible but only once safety was assured." He added that "even during the holiday period, the U.N. Command and our military formed a task force and continued discussions."
Kim assessed that North Korea began laying mines while fortifying the area around the Military Demarcation Line after declaring a policy of "two hostile states" in late 2023. "From April 2024, as work on the border line got underway in earnest across all areas, they began scattering mines," he said, also arguing that the accident could have been prevented had the Yoon Suk-yeol government responded more actively at the time.
Still, further investigation is needed to determine whether the North Korean military deliberately laid the mines to target South Korean soldiers and exactly when they were laid. In its interim findings the previous day, the military assessed that a North Korean military mine was highly likely to be the cause but withheld a final judgment on questions such as whether the mines were laid intentionally.
