South Korea's Response to DMZ Mine Blast Hinges on Whether North Korea Acted Deliberately
A landmine explosion occurred on September 21 in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the western front. Military authorities believe the mine found is highly likely to have been planted by the North Korean military and estimate it was laid at least a year ago.
Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul told the National Assembly's Defense Committee on the 29th that the incident was "a clear violation of the armistice agreement" and said that, as North Korea bears responsibility, necessary measures would be taken in stages. President Lee Jae-myung also said at a Cabinet meeting that day that the truth would be thoroughly investigated and necessary steps taken.
The resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North, demanded by some lawmakers including People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik, appears unlikely. Proponents of this approach point to the August 2015 North Korean box-mine provocation, when Seoul resumed the broadcasts on the day the blast was concluded to be North Korea's doing, eventually eliciting an expression of regret from Pyongyang. The Lee Jae-myung government halted the loudspeaker broadcasts in June last year. In 2015, the broadcasts led to exchanges of artillery and gunfire between the two Koreas before tensions eased when the North proposed high-level talks first. Currently, all inter-Korean contact channels are severed.
In terms of intent, this incident also differs in nature from 2015. The box-mine incident showed clear deliberateness: North Korean troops buried mines on a patrol path used by South Korean soldiers 440 meters south of the Military Demarcation Line, targeting them. This time, the blast occurred in an uncharted minefield in dense vegetation untouched by South Korean troops for more than 50 years. A Joint Chiefs of Staff official explained that since it occurred at a point reached after our side cleared a search path, it is currently difficult to conclude that the blast was intentionally aimed at our troops, and the matter must be clarified through investigation.
Experts called for a different response than in 2015, given the ambiguity over intent. Kim Jeong-seop, head of the Sejong Institute, said loudspeaker broadcasts would be too damaging to inter-Korean relations to consider, and that Seoul should instead strongly condemn the incident and secure a pledge from North Korea to prevent a recurrence. Cho Seong-ryeol, a visiting professor at Kyungnam University, noted that the two Koreas have different understandings of the baseline for the Military Demarcation Line, and said military talks should be resumed to demarcate the boundary and establish preventive measures.
Minister Kang also said he would use the incident to press strongly for both Koreas to verify the situation together and come to the negotiating table, signaling that Seoul will make forceful demands of the North, including the establishment of communication channels, beyond the border-line issue.
