South Korea says North deliberately planted mines in demilitarized zone that wounded 3 soldiers

South Korea said Monday that North Korea had “deliberately planted” two mines inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that exploded last month and wounded three South Korean soldiers, reiterating its demand for an apology from Pyongyang.

Pyongyang has denied involvement in the Sept. 21 incident and slammed Seoul over what it called “cheap tricks,” urging South Korea to stop attempts to “tarnish the image” of North Korea.

“The military strongly calls on North Korea to offer a sincere apology to the South Korean soldiers injured in the mine blast and immediately remove the mines it planted in violation of the armistice agreement,” Lt. Gen. Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), told a news conference.

The Korean Peninsula has remained divided since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.

The JCS said a joint operation with the UN Command (UNC) successfully removed additional mines planted near the blast site.

It added that the mines involved in the explosion “contained TNT and thermosetting resin components consistent with North Korean mines” and that fragments “recovered from the injured soldiers have also been found to be identical to North Korean plastic antipersonnel mines previously recovered from the Imjin River.”

The JCS said the mines were discovered about 10 meters (33 feet) south of the Military Demarcation Line, suggesting they had been “planted” there rather than swept into the area, Yonhap News reported.