Presidential Office Says Landmine Incident Site Survey Has Nothing to Do With UN Speech

The presidential office said on the 29th that the military's on-site survey of the explosion, believed to have been caused by a landmine in the Demilitarized Zone on the western front (the 2km-wide DMZ south of the Military Demarcation Line), was carried out based purely on military judgment by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the United Nations Command, and was unrelated to President Lee Jae-myung's address to the UN General Assembly.

The conservative opposition, including the People Power Party, had argued that the delay in the site survey may have stemmed from concerns that it would undermine the persuasiveness of the president's UN speech calling for the easing of sanctions on North Korea.

The explosion occurred on the 21st, and the military and the United Nations Command began the on-site survey six days later, on the 27th. On the 26th, three days earlier, the military and the UN Command carried out preparatory work for the survey, securing a mobility route within the DMZ and assessing the operational environment. The following day, the 28th, they announced that the explosion was highly likely to have been caused by landmines planted by the North Korean military, and that appropriate measures would be taken once a final determination is made.