October 6: South Korea’s military has blown up a North Korean minefield on its own side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), two weeks after a blast there wounded three South Korean soldiers. Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul said on Tuesday that the operation was “actually the first of its kind in our DMZ history”, the broadcaster SBS reported. North Korea denies that it planted the mines and has refused to apologise.
Key highlights
- The operation: The military destroyed the minefield with demolition charges at about 12:51pm on Monday, 5 October, according to HNGN.
- The minister: Kang Shin-chul called it “a decisive response” and said “North Korea bears all responsibility”.
- The trigger: Three South Korean soldiers were wounded by two explosions in the DMZ on 21 September.
- The finding: The United Nations Command said on 29 September that “an Armistice Agreement violation occurred”.
- North Korea: Kim Yo-jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, has called Seoul’s conclusion “absurd”.
What South Korea did
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced the clearance on Monday and released video of it, SBS reported. HNGN said the footage shows black smoke rising after the charges went off at about 12:51pm.
Lieutenant General Kwon Dae-won said the military had “cleared the North Korean minefield south of the MDL that caused this explosion”, in coordination with the United Nations Command, according to HNGN. The MDL is the Military Demarcation Line, the border that runs through the middle of the DMZ. Kwon added that “our military will continue mine removal operations south of the MDL to safeguard peace” if North Korea does not remove the remaining mines itself.
On Tuesday the defence minister set out why Seoul sees the operation as a turning point. “Our comrades-in-arms were seriously injured while carrying out legitimate operations by mines that North Korea installed,” Kang said, as quoted by SBS. He said the military would “respond resolutely to any actions that harm our national security”. SBS described it as the first time South Korea has physically removed a North Korean minefield south of the line.
The blast that started it
On 21 September, two explosions in quick succession wounded three South Korean soldiers during a routine operation on the western front of the DMZ. HNGN reported that the injured included an engineer staff sergeant and a lieutenant colonel who commands a reconnaissance battalion.
On 29 September, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said a North Korean land mine was “highly likely” to have been responsible, The Korea Herald reported. The United Nations Command, which oversees the armistice, concluded that North Korea had planted anti-personnel mines about 10 metres south of the Military Demarcation Line within the past 12 months, according to HNGN. It said “an Armistice Agreement violation occurred” and that it was “addressing the violation through established Armistice mechanisms”.
Investigators found an unexploded North Korean anti-personnel mine one to two metres from the crater, buried about three centimetres deep, and concluded that at least four mines had been laid one to two metres apart, HNGN reported. The Korea Herald described the mine as plastic; HNGN called it a resin mine.
Seoul has demanded “a sincere apology” and the immediate removal of any remaining mines. Kang has said the mine was planted deliberately and was not a stray, and that South Korea would take “corresponding measures” in stages, The Korea Herald reported.
What North Korea says
Pyongyang rejects the accusation. “It is absurd that they made a conclusion about the origin of the said mine exploded in the barren land,” Kim Yo-jong said in a statement carried by the state news agency KCNA, as quoted by HNGN. She accused Seoul of “cooking up the groundless results” and warned that North Korean border units would retaliate at once if South Korean troops fired on its soldiers, according to The Korea Herald.
The Rio Times, citing The Straits Times, the South China Morning Post and the Yonhap news agency, reported on Tuesday that North Korea had again rejected Seoul’s account and refused to apologise.
What to watch
- Whether North Korea responds to the clearance operation on the ground or only in statements.
- Whether South Korea carries out further clearance south of the line, as Lieutenant General Kwon said it would.
- What the United Nations Command does next through the armistice mechanisms it mentioned.
More on South Korea today: the row over the film “The Assassins”. The regional round-up is in our Asia Briefing for 6 October.
Sources
- SBS News: Kang Shin-chul: DMZ mine-clearing operation “first in history… a decisive response”
- SBS News: Landmine clearance operation footage released
- HNGN: Seoul clears North Korean mines after DMZ blast ruled armistice breach
- The Korea Herald: N. Korea denies responsibility for DMZ mine blast, warns of retaliation
- The Rio Times: Asia Intelligence Brief, 6 October 2026
The International Desk covers world and Asian affairs, diplomacy and conflict, with a focus on what they mean for India. Stories are checked against at least two credible sources before publication.
