The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on September 30 rejected South Korean findings that North Korea planted land mines that injured three South Korean soldiers, and threatened to retaliate if the South fires on North Korean troops fortifying the border.
The incident could further inflame tensions between the Koreas, which have no working military hotlines or other emergency communications channels as North Korea hardens its stance toward Seoul while expanding its military nuclear program.
Three South Korean soldiers were injured in two explosions on September 21 near the military demarcation line in the western section of the Demilitarized Zone, a heavily fortified border buffer zone between the Koreas that’s commonly known as the DMZ.
The statement by Kim Yo Jong came after South Korea’s military on September 28 announced a preliminary assessment that the blasts were caused by North Korean mines following a joint inspection of the site with the U.S.-led United Nations Command.
TRUMP’S FAILED DIPLOMACY TRIGGERED A DECADE OF ESCALATIONS
President Donald Trump had made his personal relationship with Kim Jong Un the centerpiece of his effort to secure a nuclear agreement, calling Kim a friend and declaring in 2018 that they “fell in love.” Trump promised that he alone could strike a deal with North Korea.
Their June 2018 summit in Singapore led to a second meeting in Hanoi in February 2019, where talks collapsed over sanctions relief and nuclear disarmament. Trump had pushed ahead with key disagreements unresolved, betting that his personal rapport with Kim would overcome them.
His gamble failed to produce an agreement to limit North Korea’s arsenal. It also drastically inflamed the situation. Trump’s personal diplomatic disaster triggered Kim’s escalation as a driect result.
Kim Jong Un’s government expanded its nuclear and missile programs, demolished the inter-Korean liaison office in 2020, and abandoned peaceful reunification as a goal before destroying cross-border road and rail links in 2024. Those reversals dismantled tangible gains from the earlier rapprochement that took decades to build.
UN COMMAND SAYS NORTH KOREA VIOLATED ARMISTICE AGREEMENT
The South Korean joint chiefs said South Korean and U.N. investigators discovered another North Korean mine Tuesday during a follow-up inspection. The U.N. Command said Wednesday that North Korea had violated the armistice agreement that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.
The agreement prohibits both sides from committing any hostile act “within, from, or against” the DMZ and bans military or civilian personnel from crossing the military demarcation line without authorization from the armistice commission.
The U.N. Command said it was addressing the violation through established mechanisms but didn’t elaborate.
Kang Hyunwoo, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff’s director of operations, said the military “strongly urges” North Korea to apologize for the blasts and take “responsible measures” to prevent a recurrence.
South Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul said the South would consider unspecified “corresponding measures” if a complete investigation confirms the North was responsible.
KIM CALLS SEOUL’S CLAIMS A “FARCE”
Kim Yo Jong, who is considered possibly the second most powerful figure in Pyongyang, called the South Korean assessment a “conspiratorial farce,” accusing Seoul of making groundless claims to create a pretext for provocation against the North. Her rhetoric followed the same denial playbook that the authoritarian nation has used for decades.
North Korea in recent years 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 broadcasting warnings and firing warning shots at North Korean troops conducting front-line fortification work, insisting “our soldiers have never crossed the border.”
“If the (South Korean) military gangsters fire at our soldiers carrying on the permanent project for the southern border, not warning shots, our border units will take immediate and merciless retaliatory action,” she said.
The recent explosions, which took place about 10 meters (yards) south of the military demarcation line, came during an operation to establish a patrol route through a densely vegetated area. The route was intended to allow future inspections with the U.N. Command after South Korea since last year detected “terrain changes” that may have resulted from North Korean minelaying.
The unresolved confrontation also coincided with mounting demands from Trump’s war with Iran, launched with Israel in February. The conflict disrupted Gulf energy supplies, pushed benchmark oil prices above $100 a barrel, and intensified inflation and borrowing pressures internationally.
In April, the U.S. military said it was preparing to move missile-defense munitions from South Korea to support operations in the Middle East. Trump pulled resources from South Korea to backfill depleted weapons and manpower for Iran, further weakening the position of the United States and allies while emboldening North Korea.
South Korean security scholar Song Seong-jong said Kim would see Iran’s lack of nuclear weapons as a reason it could be attacked.
The DMZ is a 155-mile strip and one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders, with an estimated 2 million land mines, barbed-wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides.
In August 2015, another spate of land mine blasts that maimed two South Korean soldiers and sharply raised tensions between the Koreas.
The Koreas then traded threats, staged weapons demonstrations and resumed border propaganda broadcasts before days of marathon talks eventually pulled them back from the brink. North Korea issued a vague expression of regret over the soldiers’ injuries at the time but has never clearly accepted responsibility.
