North Korea denies troops crossed DMZ border, threatens Seoul over mine blast dispute
Pyongyang calls Seoul's findings on a Sep 21 mine blast that injured three soldiers groundless and warns of a "miserable and catastrophic" outcome
Published
North Korea's state news agency KCNA said Tuesday that its troops have never crossed the military demarcation line, as South Korea has claimed, and that barriers it is building along the border are an exercise of sovereignty with no military purpose. It called Seoul's investigation into a mine blast in the DMZ groundless and warned South Korea could face a "miserable and catastrophic" position.
The blast happened on September 21 during a South Korean reconnaissance operation in the western sector of the DMZ, injuring three soldiers, two of them severely, Reuters reported. On September 28, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was highly likely that North Korean mines caused the explosion, citing forensic traces of trinitrotoluene and material consistent with North Korean antipersonnel mines, according to The Korea Herald. A day later, South Korean investigators recovered a North Korean resin antipersonnel mine near the blast site, UPI reported.
Earlier this month, South Korean lawmaker Yu Yong-weon said minefields and other installations built by North Korea crossed the demarcation line by about 30 to 50 feet at six locations in the western DMZ, NBC News reported. North Korean forces resumed fortification work, including mine-laying and fence construction, starting in March, according to media reports cited by NBC News. A similar dispute arose in 2015, when two South Korean soldiers were wounded by a landmine Seoul said North Korean troops had crossed the border to plant. Pyongyang denied it then too, and South Korea responded with renewed loudspeaker broadcasts across the border, The Japan Times reported.
Pyongyang's denial and its threat of a "miserable and catastrophic" outcome escalate the dispute rather than settle it, adding to a string of North Korean provocations this month that has included weapons tests and a rejection of talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency. The statement also comes just after President Trump made conciliatory remarks calling Kim Jong Un a friend who "will be fine," widening the gap between Washington's tone and Pyongyang's posture toward Seoul. With Kim Yo Jong having already warned the North would use "all options" if provoked, the risk of further border incidents is rising with no sign of de-escalation.