South Korean lawmakers announced on Friday that North Korea planted around 960,000 landmines along the inter-Korean border since 2024, as part of strengthening its border fortifications, following Pyongyang's announcement of adopting a "two hostile states" policy towards Seoul.
The South Korean Yonhap News Agency quoted lawmakers in the Intelligence and Defense Committees of the National Assembly as saying that the South Korean military presented this estimate to the parliament. The South Korean military observed North Korean forces approaching or crossing the Military Demarcation Line on several occasions, prompting it to issue warnings via loudspeakers and warning shots, according to established operational procedures.
Tensions between the two sides escalated following a landmine explosion inside the Demilitarized Zone on September 21, which injured three South Korean soldiers, two of them seriously. The South Korean military and the United Nations Command concluded at the time that the explosion was caused by anti-personnel mines planted by North Korea south of the Military Demarcation Line, considering it a violation of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War between 1950 and 1953.
In response, Pyongyang denied responsibility for the explosion, accusing Seoul of fabricating the results to blame it, and threatened to resume anti-Seoul propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers and deploy tactical weapons along the border. Military experts estimate that the number of mines planted along the Demilitarized Zone exceeds two million, including those planted by South Korean forces, while South Korean Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young announced a similar estimate during a parliamentary audit session earlier this month.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on North Korea yesterday, Thursday, to return to the negotiating table and refrain from any provocative measures that could lead to accidental clashes on the border.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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