▲ The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) area viewed from a border region in Paju, Gyeonggi Province
An accident presumed to be a landmine explosion occurred on Monday morning during a search operation in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at a frontline unit of the Army's 25th Infantry Division, which oversees the western front.
An official from the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, "Three of our military officers conducting an operation south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in the Demilitarized Zone on the western front were injured in an unidentified explosion."
The official added, "Two injured officers were urgently evacuated by emergency helicopter to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital and are undergoing treatment," and "Troops who took part in the operation, including one injured officer, will also be transported to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital to check their health status through detailed examinations."
Military authorities announced that they will investigate the cause of the unidentified explosion, but circumstances suggest the accident was likely caused by a landmine blast.
However, it has not been confirmed whether a landmine planted by the North Korean military exploded, or if the accident was caused by a South Korean landmine.
Possibilities being raised include an unidentified landmine detonating during an operation to clear a search path in the DMZ, or a landmine washed down by heavy rains in North Korea exploding.
Following its declaration of "two hostile states," North Korea has been carrying out "border fortification" work, such as laying tactical roads and planting landmines near the Military Demarcation Line, leading some to cautiously raise the possibility that a mine laid by North Korea may have exploded.
In particular, circumstances also indicate that North Korea may have carried out landmine-laying operations crossing over the MDL into the southern side, due to discrepancies between the North and South regarding the MDL baseline.
Earlier, the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that it had identified recent terrain changes in some areas south of the DMZ and was consulting with the United Nations Command over the possibility that North Korean troops had laid landmines.
The incident marks the first landmine explosion in the DMZ in about 10 months, since November 20, 2025.
At that time, an explosion also occurred in the western front DMZ in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in which a staff sergeant in his 20s performing a mine-detection mission suffered an injury presumed to be an ankle fracture.
The most recent landmine explosion caused by North Korean provocation was the so-called "wooden-box landmine" incident on August 4, 2015.
At the time, North Korean soldiers crossed 440 meters south of the MDL and planted wooden-box landmines at an access gate along a fence near a South Korean guard post; when the mines detonated, Staff Sergeant Ha Jae-heon lost both legs and Staff Sergeant Kim Jungwon lost his right leg.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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