Seoul and Pyongyang Trade Accusations at UN Over DMZ Mine Blasts
South Korea accused North Korea of violating the Korean Armistice Agreement through land mine explosions that injured three personnel in the Demilitarized Zone, while Pyongyang denied responsibility and defended its border fortification work.
South and North Korea traded accusations at the United Nations over land mine explosions in the Demilitarized Zone that injured three South Korean military personnel, underscoring renewed tension along the heavily fortified border.
South Korean Ambassador to the UN Cha Ji-hoon raised the Sept. 21 incident during the general debate of the First Committee of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday. He said a joint on-site investigation by the South Korean military and the US-led United Nations Command, supported by forensic analysis, concluded that the blasts were caused by a land mine deliberately placed by North Korean forces south of the Military Demarcation Line.
Cha described the incident as a clear violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement, the 1953 accord that halted fighting in the Korean War. He called on Pyongyang to stop what he characterized as escalatory action, apologize and take responsible measures. The ambassador also urged North Korea to return to dialogue aimed at reducing tension and rebuilding trust.
North Korea rejected Seoul's account. Its representative said South Korea was attempting to portray the North's fortification activity along what Pyongyang calls its southern border as military encroachment. The representative said the work was a legitimate exercise of sovereignty and pledged that the North would act more resolutely to ensure security in the area.
Pyongyang also cited remarks by South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young during a parliamentary audit in Seoul on Wednesday. Chung said the explosions could not yet be characterized as an intentional North Korean attack. The North used that statement to challenge Seoul's presentation of the case at the UN.
The exchange revealed a gap not only between the two Koreas but also in the wording used by officials in Seoul. The military and South Korea's UN envoy have attributed the mine to deliberate North Korean action, while the unification minister has cautioned against defining the event as an attack at this stage.
The dispute places the armistice framework back at the center of inter-Korean diplomacy. The agreement ended active hostilities but did not produce a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula technically at war. With each side presenting sharply different accounts of what happened inside the DMZ, the prospect of a jointly accepted explanation remains remote, while Seoul's demand for an apology and Pyongyang's denial leave little immediate room for de-escalation.