North Korea Rejects Seoul’s DMZ Mine Finding and Warns of Retaliation
Kim Yo-jong rejected South Korea’s preliminary assessment that North Korean mines likely caused a DMZ blast that injured three soldiers, while warning of retaliation if South Korean forces fire on border troops.
North Korea has rejected South Korea’s preliminary assessment that a North Korean mine likely caused an explosion in the Demilitarized Zone that injured three South Korean soldiers, adding a direct warning of retaliation if tensions along the border escalate.
Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, accused Seoul’s military of fabricating its findings to justify political and military action against Pyongyang. Her statement was carried Wednesday by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Kim disputed the South Korean account of the incident and said North Korean personnel had not crossed the inter-Korean boundary. She described construction along the North’s southern border as an exercise of sovereignty rather than a military provocation. North Korea has been building barriers in the border area for about two years.
The statement also warned that North Korean border units would launch an immediate response if South Korean forces fired on personnel working near the frontier. Kim said continued accusations and pressure in the border area could produce an unprecedented situation, sharpening the rhetoric around an incident that Seoul is still investigating.
The blast occurred on Sept. 21 during a South Korean military operation inside the DMZ. Three soldiers were injured. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff later said North Korean mines were highly likely to have caused the explosion.
South Korean and United Nations Command personnel conducted an inspection of the site earlier this week. The South Korean military said at least four North Korean mines were believed to have been placed in the area, including two that exploded, and reported finding another North Korean mine near the site. Further analysis is expected before final conclusions are announced.
Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul told lawmakers that the mine discovered during the inspection appeared to have been deliberately placed rather than washed or displaced into the area. He said the mine was likely connected to North Korea’s border fortification work and characterized mine placement south of the Military Demarcation Line as a violation of the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War.
Seoul has said it will take corresponding measures in stages if the investigation confirms responsibility. Pyongyang’s denial and warning raise the political stakes around those findings, as both sides frame the blast as evidence of hostile conduct by the other. The next phase of the joint investigation will be central to determining the cause and shaping any South Korean response.