Seoul summons Ukraine envoy over North Korean prisoner-of-war row

Seoul's military asserts that a blast that injured three South Korean soldiers within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) last week was most likely caused by North Korean landmines. The DMZ, a 248km-long and about 4km-wide buffer zone dividing the Korean Peninsula since 1953, is officially demilitarised but remains heavily fortified and littered with mines. With no peace treaty, South Korea and North Korea are technically still at war.

Preliminary findings from a joint investigation with the UN Command suggested that recently planted mines were to blame. The explosion occurred about 10 meters south of the Military Demarcation Line, near an area where changes in terrain and North Korean mine placement were observed. The blast and resulting flames, along with the size of the crater, led investigators to conclude that North Korean landmines were highly suspected to have caused the explosion.

Two mines detonated, and a third unexploded mine was discovered after soldiers withdrew. While South Korean landmines can cause injuries up to 20 meters away, the blast radius was smaller, and the mines used TNT, a substance also found in South Korean mines, but differed in several key ways. The ongoing probe will determine whether North Korea is fully responsible, with the military prepared to take appropriate measures if that is found to be the case.

Whether the North Korean mines were deliberately planted or merely drifted is yet to be determined. South Korea and the UN Command have already inspected the area inside the DMZ where the incident occurred. Since 2024, North Korea has been actively laying mines and building anti-tank barriers along the frontier, escalating tensions between the two Koreas.

In 2015, two South Korean soldiers were seriously injured by a landmine explosion on the southern side of the DMZ, with one losing both legs. The South Korean government concluded that North Korean troops had crossed the Military Demarcation Line to plant the mines, a claim Pyongyang strongly denied. The incident prompted South Korea to resume anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts along the border.