South Korea's military launched a joint on-site investigation on the 27th, six days after suspected landmine explosions in the Demilitarized Zone.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it carried out the survey with the United Nations Command in an area adjacent to the Military Demarcation Line in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, under the jurisdiction of the Army's 25th Infantry Division. Two explosions believed to have been caused by landmines occurred there on the 21st, wounding three military officers.
About 40 personnel took part in the operation, conducting precision mine searches and clearing access routes from 9 a.m. until sunset. "We approached the vicinity of the suspected blast site, but ended the operation for the day because the uncharted minefield inside the DMZ posed a high risk and the operating personnel were severely fatigued," the JCS said. "We plan to conduct another survey at a later date."
The JCS conducted a preliminary survey with the U.N. Command the previous day, and on the 22nd asked the National Forensic Service to analyze the composition of fragments removed during surgery on the wounded. Initial results are expected this week.
Opposition politicians pushed back, saying the investigation was delayed because the on-site survey came six days after the incident. "If President Lee Jae-myung deliberately delayed the on-site investigation, this is a clear act of treason," Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, said on the same day. "It is a crime that warrants not only impeachment but immediate arrest and trial."
The military, for its part, said securing the safety of investigators had to come first because the blast site was close to the Military Demarcation Line and lay in a hazardous area with no existing search routes. The presidential office also stressed that "there is absolutely no cover-up or hidden agenda of any kind."
