A landmine warning sign stands in the civilian control zone of the demilitarized zone on the western front in Yeoncheon-gun, Gyeonggi Province. [Yonhap]
A landmine warning sign stands in the civilian control zone of the demilitarized zone on the western front in Yeoncheon-gun, Gyeonggi Province. [Yonhap]

North Korean troops crossed the military demarcation line more than 50 times over the past two months, South Korea's Defense Ministry has assessed.

The Defense Intelligence Agency under the Ministry of National Defense told the office of People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Yong-won of the National Assembly's defense committee that North Korean troops were assessed to have crossed the MDL "about 20 times in August and about 30 times in September," according to Yonhap.

North Korean troops first crossed the MDL on the eastern front in mid-August this year and have since repeatedly done so. Recent crossings have been concentrated in the area overseen by the Army's 21st Infantry Division, which covers the Yanggu area of Gangwon Province.

The pattern has been consistent: a small group of North Korean soldiers, believed to be a patrol unit, cross the MDL in a specific section, then withdraw when South Korean forces fire warning shots. South Korean troops follow rules of engagement that call for warning broadcasts when a crossing appears imminent and warning shots to expel intruders when a crossing actually occurs.

Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party's General Affairs Department, pushed back in a statement dated Tuesday and released through KCNA on Wednesday, saying, "Our soldiers have not crossed the border line even once."

Kim threatened immediate and merciless retaliation if South Korean forces fire live rounds, warning that "when even a single bullet lands on our soil, they will have to be prepared for a great deal."

She added that North Korea had decided to reinforce "tactical counterattack means" in the direction of the DMZ facing the South Korean Army's III Corps 21st Infantry Division, which she described as having recently shown frequent provocations.

A North Korean plastic anti-personnel landmine discovered during the third day of a joint on-site investigation into a DMZ mine explosion, conducted Tuesday. [Yonhap]
A North Korean plastic anti-personnel landmine discovered during the third day of a joint on-site investigation into a DMZ mine explosion, conducted Tuesday. [Yonhap]

The statement was North Korea's rebuttal to South Korea's findings from its investigation into a recent mine explosion. Kim dismissed the South Korean military's announcement as "a self-directed farce by Seoul" and said it resembled the tactics used in the wooden box mine incident more than a decade ago.

On Sept. 21, two explosions occurred during a route-clearing operation in the DMZ under the jurisdiction of the Army's 25th Infantry Division on the western front, wounding three officers. South Korean forces and the United Nations Command found an additional North Korean plastic anti-personnel landmine during a joint on-site investigation Tuesday, and the military assessed it was highly likely to be a North Korean mine.

North Korea, having designated the two Koreas as separate states, has continued work along the MDL to effectively treat it as a national border — laying mines, erecting fences and building tactical roads. The recent crossings are believed to have occurred in the course of that work.


dbsdn1110@heraldcorp.com