'North Korean Landmine Highly Likely... All Responsibility Lies with North Korea'

[Anchor]

The military has announced interim findings from its investigation into the landmine explosion on the western front. It stated that it is highly likely the mine belonged to the North Korean military, and that if it is definitively determined to be North Korea's, North Korea bears all responsibility and our military will take corresponding measures.

Reporter Choi Jae-yeong reports first.

[Reporter]

The military, which investigated the scene of the western front landmine explosion alongside the UN Command over the two days of September 27 and 28, stated that the exploded mine is likely to be a North Korean military landmine.

[Kwon Dae-won / Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: We have assessed that the cause of this landmine explosion is very likely to be a North Korean military landmine.]

This assessment is based on the fact that our military has no record of laying landmines in the area, while traces exist of the North Korean military laying mines nearby in September of last year.

During the investigation, testimony also emerged that "an unexploded brown resin antipersonnel mine was found 1 meter away from the blast site."

The Joint Chiefs of Staff explained, "North Korea's resin antipersonnel mine is an antipersonnel mine made of plastic that looks identical to a wooden box mine, and we understand it has been operated by North Korea since 1969," adding, "A combat engineer identified a suspected landmine buried 5 to 10 cm below the surface during mine detection operations."

The military further explained that considering the shape of the blast crater identified during the on-site investigation, witness statements regarding the flames at the time, and the severity of injuries, the cause of the explosion was not an allied landmine.

A brown foreign substance was detected in the initial analysis by the National Forensic Service, and TNT, which is known to be used in North Korean wooden box mines, was also found on the injured soldiers' gear.

Steel fragments, which typically scatter when our military's landmines detonate, were not found in the National Forensic Service's analysis.

The military emphasized that if it is definitively determined to be a North Korean landmine, it will take corresponding action.

[Kwon Dae-won / Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: All responsibility for this lies with North Korea. Our military will implement appropriate and corresponding measures.]

The final investigation results are scheduled to be announced after our military completes an assessment process in coordination with the UN Command.

Camera by Kim Hyun-sang | Video editing by Jeon Mingyu
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.