Defense minister vows 'corresponding measures' if NK land mine confirmed in DMZ blast

The Korea Times - Sep 28, 2026

South Korea will take corresponding measures if last week’s explosion in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is confirmed to originate from a land mine placed recently by North Korea, Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul said Monday. “Appropriate and corresponding measures will be necessary and we will take them,” Kang told reporters after meeting main opposition People Power Party (PPP) leader Jang Dong-hyeok at the National Assembly. His remarks came as the accounts given by troops raised the possibility that a North Korean anti-personnel mine was present near the blast site, although the military said neither the type of mine involved nor who planted it had been established. Brig. Gen. Hwang Ju-bong, director of Operations Division 1 at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said at a regular defense ministry briefing on Monday that some soldiers reported seeing a wooden box that could have housed an explosive device near the blast site, although others described it differently. “There was testimony that its shape resembled a wooden box mine but that the material appeared to be plastic,” Hwan

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