SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The powerful sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday rejected South Korean findings that North Korea planted landmines that injured three South Korean soldiers last week and threatened to retaliate if the South fired on North Korean troops fortifying the border.
The incident could further inflame tensions between the Koreas, which do not have operational military phone lines or other emergency communications channels like North Korea. hardens its stance towards Seoul while developing its military nuclear program.
Three South Korean Soldiers were injured in two explosions on September 21 near the military demarcation line in the western part of the demilitarized zone, a heavily fortified border buffer zone between the Koreas commonly known as the DMZ.
The declaration of Kim Yo-Jong came after the South Korean military announced a preliminary assessment on Monday that the the explosions were caused by North Korean mines following a joint inspection of the site with the US-led United Nations command.
UN command says North Korea violated armistice agreement
South Korean joint leaders said South Korean and U.N. investigators discovered another North Korean mine during a follow-up inspection on Tuesday. The UN command said on Wednesday that North Korea had violated the armistice agreement that ended fighting between 1950 and 1953. Korean War. The agreement prohibits both sides from committing any hostile acts “within, from or against” the DMZ and prohibits military or civilian personnel from crossing the military demarcation line without authorization from the armistice commission.
The UN command said it was addressing the violation through established mechanisms, but did not provide further details.
Kang Hyunwoo, director of operations for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military “strongly urges” North Korea to apologize for the explosions and take “responsible measures” to prevent it from happening again. South Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul said the South would consider unspecified “corresponding measures” if a full investigation confirmed the North was responsible.
Kim calls Seoul’s claims a ‘farce’
Kim Yo-Jongwho is considered perhaps the second most powerful figure in Pyongyang, called the South Korean assessment a “conspiratorial farce,” accusing Seoul of making baseless claims to create a pretext for provocation against the North.
In recent years, North Korea has added mines, anti-tank barriers and other front-line fortifications, raising concerns in the South about the growing presence of North Korean soldiers near the border. Kim criticized the South for issuing warnings and firing warning shots at North Korean troops carrying out front-line fortification work, insisting that “our soldiers have never crossed the border.”
“If the (South Korean) military gangsters shoot at our soldiers who are executing the permanent southern border project, without warning, our border units will take immediate and ruthless retaliatory measures,” she said.
The recent explosions, which took place about 10 meters south of the military demarcation line, took place during an operation to establish a patrol route through a heavily vegetated area. The route was intended to allow future inspections with the UN command after South Korea detected “terrain changes” since last year that may have resulted from North Korean mine-laying.
The DMZ is a 248-kilometer (155-mile) strip and one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world, with an estimated 2 million land mines, barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides.
In August 2015, a new series of landmine explosions injured two South Korean soldiers and sharply increased tensions between the two Koreas.
The Koreas then exchanged threats, staged weapons demonstrations and resumed border propaganda broadcasts before days of marathon negotiations. pulled them from the abyss. North Korea then expressed vague regret over the soldiers’ injuries, but never clearly took responsibility.
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