Seoul says North Korean mines ‘highly suspected’ as cause of DMZ blast

The report into the explosion in Demilitarized Zone threatens to provoke renewed tension between the two Koreas. A Korea Mine Clearance Institute official searches for landmines at the border village of Haemaru-chon near the Demilitarised Zone in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. (EPA Images pic)SEOUL: A blast that injured three South Korean military officers inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) last week was likely caused by North Korean landmines, Seoul's military said Monday.The DMZ is a 248km long and roughly 4km wide buffer zone that has divided the Korean Peninsula since the 1953 armistice.While the zone itself is officially demilitarised, its northern and southern boundaries are among the world's most heavily fortified frontiers and remain littered with landmines.With no peace treaty signed, Seoul and Pyongyang technically remain at war.The preliminary findings of a joint probe with the UN Command into the Sept 21 explosion suggested that "recently planted mines" were involved, Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of South Korea's joint chiefs of staff, said at a live briefing."The mines exploded at a location about 10m south of the Military Demarcation Line, and we have confirmed that the site was about 10m from an area where changes in the terrain were observed and where North Korean forces are believed to have recently planted mines," he said."Taking into account the crater and the pattern of the flames from the explosion, the extent of the injuries sustained by the service members...

we assess that North Korean landmines are highly suspected to have caused the blast."Kwon said two landmines exploded and that a third, unexploded mine was found while soldiers were withdrawing after the blast.The three officers suffered severe injuries in the explosion, including one who lost his foot.'All options on the table' The ongoing investigation found that while the exploded landmines used TNT - a substance also used in South Korean mines - they displayed characteristics different from domestic landmines, including the absence of "metal fragments", the joint chiefs of staff said.And while South Korean landmines have a lethal radius of around 20m or more, the blast radius of the mines that exploded last week was relatively small, it added.Once completed, should the probe conclude that nuclear-armed Pyongyang was responsible, "North Korea would bear full responsibility for the incident, and our military will take appropriate and corresponding measures," Kwon said, without giving fur…