3 soldiers wounded in suspected mine blast during DMZ patrol

Commander loses foot in western front explosion near Paju-Yeoncheon border area

All three out of danger; PPP lawmaker says blast occurred near North Korean minefield

Military vows to investigate 'all possibilities'

People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Yong-won holds a press conference Monday at the National Assembly regarding a mine explosion that occurred during a 25th Infantry Division operation in the demilitarized zone. [Yonhap]

Three South Korean soldiers were wounded Monday in an explosion during a search operation in the western front demilitarized zone, with one officer losing a foot in what the military suspects may have been a land mine blast.

A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said three officers were injured by an unidentified explosion while conducting operations south of the military demarcation line in the western front DMZ.

Two of the wounded were airlifted by emergency helicopter to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital, where they are receiving treatment, the official said. The remaining injured officer and other soldiers who took part in the operation were also being transported to the hospital for detailed medical examinations.

The explosion occurred at around 10:50 a.m. Monday in the western front area under the jurisdiction of the 25th Infantry Division, in a border zone between Paju and Yeoncheon in Gyeonggi Province.

The unit had been conducting what the military calls a "search route clearing operation" inside the DMZ — an operation designed to secure safe passages through uncharted terrain by identifying mines, unexploded ordnance and other hazardous materials.

The commander of the search battalion suffered a severe injury, losing a foot in the blast. The military coordinated with the United Nations Command to send an emergency helicopter into the DMZ to evacuate the wounded, and the battalion commander was undergoing surgery at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital.

All three soldiers wounded in the DMZ explosion were in stable condition with no life-threatening injuries.

A barrier erected by North Korea along the demilitarized zone on the western front. [Yonhap]

Military authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion, with a land mine detonation considered the most likely explanation.

However, it remains unclear whether the mine was planted by North Korean forces or was a South Korean military mine. Investigators are looking into the possibility that an unidentified mine detonated during the route-clearing operation, or that a mine washed southward by heavy rains in North Korea triggered the blast.

There is also the possibility that a mine installed by North Korea exploded. Since declaring itself a separate "hostile state," North Korea has been fortifying its border by laying tactical roads and planting mines near the MDL.

People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Yong-won held a press conference at the National Assembly on Monday, saying the area under the 25th Division's jurisdiction is where North Korean forces crossed the MDL to create a minefield. "The area where Monday's explosion occurred is near a minefield established by North Korean forces," Yoo said.

Yoo also raised the possibility that the blast was caused by a North Korean mine, noting that the nature of the injuries — including the loss of a foot — resembles the damage caused by the 2015 wooden-box mine incident attributed to North Korea.

However, the JCS official said the military would "investigate with all possibilities open," while adding that "the site of the incident is some distance away" from the area where North Korea is suspected of having planted mines south of the MDL.

Monday's incident marks the first time a soldier has been seriously wounded by a mine explosion south of the MDL in the DMZ in roughly 11 years, since the North Korean wooden-box mine attack on Aug. 4, 2015.

In that incident, North Korean forces crossed more than 440 meters south of the MDL and planted wooden-box mines in a gate along a forward fence near a South Korean guard post. The explosion cost then-Sergeant Ha Jae-heon both legs and then-Sergeant Kim Jeong-won his right leg.

chami@heraldcorp.com