GPS data, chemical analysis and fragment comparison confirm North Korean mines planted below MDL

Military calls on North Korea to remove mines voluntarily or face continued clearance operations

Yang Jin-hyeok, operations chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefs reporters at South Korea's Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Monday on the final findings of the joint field investigation task force into the DMZ mine explosion. [Yonhap]
Yang Jin-hyeok, operations chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefs reporters at South Korea's Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Monday on the final findings of the joint field investigation task force into the DMZ mine explosion. [Yonhap]

South Korea's military has concluded that an explosion in the western demilitarized zone on Sept. 21 was caused by a North Korean mine planted south of the Military Demarcation Line, and launched a mine-clearing operation in the area Monday. It marks the first time South Korea's military has taken substantive action in direct response to a North Korean mine detonation.

Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a final briefing Monday that the investigation had determined South Korean soldiers conducting routine DMZ operations south of the MDL were seriously wounded by a plastic anti-personnel mine that North Korea had placed there under the pretext of so-called border fortification work. He said the conclusion was based on the results of a joint UN Command investigation and scientific evidence.

GPS analysis confirmed that both the first and second explosion sites, as well as an intact North Korean plastic anti-personnel mine discovered at the scene on Tuesday, were all located south of the MDL. "The UN Command and the joint intelligence investigation team ultimately used GPS to confirm that all three points were more than 10 meters south of the MDL, constituting a violation of the Armistice Agreement," Kwon said.

Chemical analysis conducted by the National Forensic Service on equipment belonging to the wounded soldiers also supported the finding that the mines were of North Korean origin. The tests detected TNT, thermosetting resin compounds and brown foreign matter. The National Forensic Service delivered its final results to military authorities earlier this month.

Fragments recovered from the wounded soldiers' bodies were compared with North Korean plastic anti-personnel mines previously retrieved from the Imjin River, and the analysis confirmed they were identical.

The military also concluded that the mines had been deliberately planted by North Korean forces rather than having drifted to their location. Soldiers present at the scene said the mines had been buried about 5 to 10 centimeters below the surface, and a North Korean plastic anti-personnel mine found at the scene was buried at a depth of roughly 3 centimeters.

"The UN Command also assessed that the mines were intentionally positioned and had been placed within the past 12 months," Kwon said. "Taking into account the spacing between the discovered mine and the blast crater, as well as the distance between them, we determined these were not drifted mines but mines that had been deliberately buried — a pattern typical of North Korean mine-laying," he said.

The mine-clearing operation began at 12:51 p.m. Monday. Yang Jin-hyeok, operations chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the operation was aimed at removing North Korean mines that the UN Command had confirmed were located south of the MDL, describing it as an effective response to the casualties suffered by South Korean troops. The military also warned that if North Korea does not voluntarily remove the minefields it has laid south of the MDL, South Korea will continue its clearance operations.

Kwon called on North Korea to act immediately. "The military strongly urges North Korea to offer a sincere apology to our soldiers who were wounded in this mine explosion and to immediately remove the mines it planted in violation of the Armistice Agreement," he said.


siuu@heraldcorp.com