Three noncommissioned officers and officers were injured, some seriously, in an explosion on the 21st while clearing a search route inside the Demilitarized Zone at a front-line unit of the Army's 25th Division on the western front. The blast is believed to have been caused by a landmine.
"Three of our military officers conducting a search operation at a point south of the Military Demarcation Line in the western section of the DMZ were injured in an unidentified explosion," a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said.
"Two of the injured were urgently airlifted by emergency helicopter to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital, where they are receiving treatment," the official said. "The remaining injured officer, along with other troops who took part in the operation, will also be transported to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital for detailed examinations and health checks."
One of them suffered a severe injury requiring ankle amputation and is undergoing surgery at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital, though the injury is not life-threatening.
Military authorities plan to launch an investigation into the cause of the unidentified explosion. Circumstances point to the possibility that a landmine caused the accident.
The military is expected to focus its investigation on three scenarios: the detonation of a mine laid by North Korean forces, the detonation of a mine washed down from North Korean territory by heavy rains, and an accident involving a South Korean mine.
Some within the military say the most likely explanation is the detonation of a mine planted by North Korea.
Since declaring South and North Korea "two hostile states," the North has been carrying out what it calls the fortification of its border since 2024, laying tactical roads and burying mines near the MDL.
Because the two Koreas disagree on where the MDL runs, there are also indications that North Korea laid mines across the line into South Korean territory.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff also recently identified changes in terrain in parts of the DMZ south of the line. It said it is consulting with the United Nations Command on the possibility that North Korean troops laid mines there.
On this point, Rep. Yoo Yong-won of the People Power Party told a news conference that "the area where the explosion occurred is near a minefield the North Korean military created south of the MDL between last year and early this year." He added, "We have already disclosed that six sites, including minefields created by the North Korean military, encroached about 10 to 15 meters across the MDL."
If the mine was laid by North Korea, tensions between the two Koreas could escalate in a repeat of the wooden-box mine provocation in the DMZ 11 years ago. That incident, known as the "wooden-box mine" case, occurred on Aug. 4, 2015.
At the time, North Korean troops crossed 440 meters south of the MDL and buried wooden-box mines at a gate in the forward barrier fence near a South Korean guard post. When the mines exploded, Staff Sgt. Ha Jae-hun lost both legs and Staff Sgt. Kim Jung-won lost his right leg.
