---
title: "South Korea Says North Korean Troops Planted Mines That Wounded Three Officers"
description: "The military said the mines were laid about 10 meters across the border inside the Demilitarized Zone and demanded an apology and their removal"
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-10-05T07:03:31.117Z
modified: 2026-10-05T10:15:09Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/south-korea-says-north-korean-troops-planted-mines-that-woun-ad2696
language: en
tags: ["military", "north-korea", "dmz", "landmines", "security", "asia"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# South Korea Says North Korean Troops Planted Mines That Wounded Three Officers

*The military said the mines were laid about 10 meters across the border inside the Demilitarized Zone and demanded an apology and their removal*

By rews desk · October 5, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/south-korea-says-north-korean-troops-planted-mines-that-woun-ad2696

## In brief

- The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the Sept. 21 blast that wounded three South Korean officers was from a North Korean-planted minefield
- North Korean soldiers crossed the border and buried mines about 10 meters south of the MDL at depths of 3 to 10 centimeters
- Lt. Gen. demanded an apology and immediate mine removal, but announced no retaliatory measures
- Seoul said it will keep clearing the mines if Pyongyang does not remove them, drawing expected criticism over costs and risk
- A Defense Ministry official said no practical action against the North is possible now, citing long-term dialogue or pressure

South Korea’s military said on Monday that it had concluded that three of its officers wounded in a mine explosion inside the Demilitarized Zone last month were hurt by a minefield that North Korean troops planted across the border, not by old mines that had been displaced.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the blast happened on Sept. 21 on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, injuring three service members. After examining the spacing of the blast craters and the distances between them, the military said it had identified the site as “a typical emplaced North Korean minefield, not lost mines.”

North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line and buried the mines about 10 meters south of the line, at depths of 3 to 10 centimeters, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

“We strongly urge North Korea to offer, even now, a sincere apology to our service members who were wounded in this mine explosion and to immediately remove the mines it installed in violation of the armistice agreement,” said Lt. Gen., who announced the findings.

The military announced no retaliatory step over the incursion. At an Armed Forces Day ceremony on Oct. 1, President Lee Jae-myung had signaled that none was coming, saying, “Our government will consistently continue practical measures to lower military tensions between the two Koreas,” and suggesting that measures like loudspeaker broadcasts toward the North would not resume.

Gen. Kwon said that if the North did not voluntarily dismantle the minefields it laid south of the Military Demarcation Line, South Korean forces would continue clearance operations there “for the peace of the Demilitarized Zone and the safety of our soldiers.”

That leaves Seoul unable to hold Pyongyang accountable for planting the mines, while spending its own budget and sending its own troops into dangerous work to clean them up — an arrangement that is expected to draw criticism at home.

A Defense Ministry official acknowledged as much. “There is no practical measure we can take against North Korea right now,” the official said. “In the long run, the international community will come to know about this kind of behavior by the North, and we will keep working on the North through a variety of efforts, whether dialogue or pressure. It would be better to assess this over time.”