South Korea's military on the 30th called on North Korea to apologize and take responsibility for a landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone on the 21st that wounded South Korean soldiers. Kim Yo-jong, director of the general affairs department of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, flatly denied the account, calling it "a self-staged farce by Seoul," and threatened merciless retaliation if the South takes countermeasures.
Kang Hyun-woo, head of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, read a statement at the Ministry of National Defense headquarters in Seoul on the 30th, saying South Korean soldiers had been seriously wounded by a North Korean mine. "The North must immediately halt activities that raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula, including the fortification of the border line, and we strongly urge an apology and responsible measures from the North," he said. It was the first official statement from the South Korean military toward Pyongyang that identified a North Korean mine as the cause of the blast and demanded an apology.
The United Nations Command, which took part in a three-day on-site investigation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff beginning on the 27th, also released a statement. "Based on the findings of the investigation, the United Nations Command has determined that a violation of the Armistice Agreement occurred," it said.
On the same day, however, the Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim called the incident "a clear fabrication" in a statement issued the previous day. "If South Korean military thugs open live fire rather than warning shots, our border units will carry out immediate and merciless retaliation," she said. Kang Shin-chul, the minister of national defense, told a National Assembly defense committee hearing on the 29th that the armistice violation was clear and that responsibility lay with North Korea, adding that the South would take corresponding measures.
