[Edaily Reporter kim kwanyong ] Attention is focusing on the nature of the explosive device and how it entered the area after three South Korean military officers on duty in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the western front were injured by an unidentified explosion on the 21st. Investigators are expected to prioritize examining the possibility that landmines laid by North Korea as part of its so-called “border fortification” efforts along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) may have drifted south of the MDL, as well as the possibility that North Korean landmines were washed southward by heavy rains this summer. However, military authorities maintain that it has not yet been confirmed whether the explosive device was a landmine, or, if so, which side planted it.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, three South Korean military officers conducting operations south of the MDL within the DMZ on the western front were injured by an unidentified explosion this morning. Two were urgently evacuated by emergency helicopter, and the remaining officer was first transported by land before being airlifted. Military authorities have secured the scene and are investigating the type of explosive and the circumstances of the incident.

This incident has drawn attention to a possible link with the North Korean military’s recent activities of laying landmines and constructing tactical roads and barbed-wire fences along the MDL. Since 2024, North Korean forces have mobilized large numbers of troops in the northern DMZ area to lay landmines and create barren land, while also constructing tactical roads and barriers. At the time, military authorities stated that North Korean forces were continuing the work despite having suffered casualties on several occasions after stepping on their own landmines during the laying process.

Of particular note is a recent claim made by Rep. Yoo Yong-won of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee, during a question-and-answer session with the government. He asserted that there are six locations in the border area of a certain division on the western front where minefields—presumed to have been created by North Korean forces—extend approximately 10 to 15 meters beyond the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). Military authorities did not deny the possibility itself. The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated at the time, “We have identified some changes in the terrain,” adding, “We are consulting closely with the United Nations Command regarding the possibility that landmines were laid.”

It is also difficult to rule out the possibility that landmines were washed away by heavy rainfall. On July 23, the JCS disclosed that it had detected evidence suggesting that some of the large number of landmines laid by North Korean forces in the DMZ had indeed been washed away by torrential rains in North Korea. At the time, the military also detected signs that a landmine—presumed to have been washed away from an area north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL)—had exploded.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff warned at the time that the washed-away landmines could flow southward along rivers connecting the two Koreas, such as the Imjin, Hantan, Hwagang, Bukhan, and Inbuk streams. Military authorities explained that, in particular, some of the landmines recently laid by North Korea were installed near rivers or waterways, raising the possibility that they could be carried downstream if sediment is washed away during heavy rains.

It is reported that some of the landmines recently laid by North Korean forces are made of non-metallic materials such as wood or plastic. In 2024, military authorities estimated that North Korean forces had laid tens of thousands of additional landmines on the northern side of the DMZ and publicly warned of the possibility that some of them could be washed away during heavy rains.

Meanwhile, there have been past instances where South Korean troops were injured by their own landmines while conducting operations in the DMZ. In the same month that the 2015 North Korean wooden box landmine provocation occurred, a South Korean non-commissioned officer was injured in the DMZ in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province, when an M-14 antipersonnel landmine laid by South Korean forces exploded.