[Anchor]
The military has announced the final findings of its investigation into the landmine explosion on the western front that occurred on September 21. The military concluded that what injured South Korean service members was a North Korean plastic landmine. It also made a final determination that the mine had not drifted away, but had been directly planted by the North Korean military south of the Military Demarcation Line.
First, senior defense reporter Kim Tae-hoon reports.
[Reporter]
This is a resin anti-personnel mine unveiled today (October 5) by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a North Korean landmine previously discovered in the Imjin River area.
Made of brown plastic material, it features a grid pattern.
The JCS stated that during the final on-site investigation on September 29, a resin anti-personnel mine identical to the Imjin River mine was identified at a distance of 1 to 2 meters from the blast crater in the western front's Demilitarized Zone where the explosion occurred.
The JCS explained that verification by the National Forensic Service also confirmed that fragments, TNT components, and colors collected from the incident site, injured service members, and various equipment were identical to the mine found in the Imjin River.
[Kwon Dae-won / Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: "We detected TNT, brown foreign substances, and thermosetting resin components, confirming it was a North Korean resin anti-personnel mine. To ensure greater accuracy, we conducted a comparative analysis between fragments extracted from the bodies of the injured and the North Korean resin anti-personnel mine previously retrieved from the Imjin River, confirming that they are identical...."]
The JCS emphasized that the North Korean military artificially buried the resin anti-personnel mine at a depth of about 3 centimeters at a point 10 meters south of the Military Demarcation Line.
[Kwon Dae-won / Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff: "Considering the distance between the actually discovered mine and the crater of the detonated mine, as well as the spacing between rows, we determined this not to be a drifted mine, but a typical, deliberately laid North Korean minefield."]
He added that the United Nations Command shares the same view.
The South Korean military and the UNC assessed that the mines were laid about a year ago, reaching a final conclusion that North Korea planted the mines south of the Military Demarcation Line as part of its so-called border fortification work.
The JCS urged North Korea to offer a sincere apology even now to the South Korean service members injured in the mine explosion and to immediately remove the landmines laid in violation of the Armistice Agreement.
Video by Cho Chang-hyun | Video Editing by Jeong Seong-hoon
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