North Korean Mine Highly Likely Cause of DMZ Blast

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (the military's highest command body) concluded on the 28th that a landmine explosion on the 21st in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the western front, which injured three South Korean service members, was very likely caused by a North Korean mine. At a briefing on September 28 to present interim findings after a second on-site investigation, Lt. Gen. Kwon Dae-won, deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "Judging from the pattern of the blast flames at the explosion site, the severity of the service members' injuries, and testimony from operational personnel, the mine is presumed not to be one of ours."

Kwon cited three grounds for this assessment. First, there is no record of South Korean forces having laid mines in the blast area, while traces of mines planted by North Korean forces in the vicinity were found in September 2025. In a preliminary analysis, the National Forensic Service detected a brown foreign substance, and no metal fragments from a South Korean mine were found. In addition, testimony was secured from operational personnel that a North Korean 'resin anti-personnel mine' was discovered about one meter from the initial blast site. Based on this testimony, Kwon said the explosive was likely a brown North Korean resin anti-personnel mine — a plastic landmine.

"If the final investigation determines that our military's casualties were caused by a mine planted by North Korean forces, it means that our service members, who were carrying out normal operations south of the Military Demarcation Line, were injured by a North Korean landmine, and North Korea bears full responsibility for this," Kwon said. He added, "Our military will take appropriate and corresponding measures."

The military continues to investigate whether mines around the blast site have been displaced and whether additional mines have been laid.