North Korea has issued its first response after its landmines were pointed to as the cause of an explosion in the DMZ, calling the incident an "obvious staged farce."

In a statement released today (September 30) through the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo-jong, department director of the Workers' Party of Korea, referred to the South Korean military as "South Korean armed gangsters" and claimed that the South had "committed a provocation by once again dragging us in while announcing the investigation results regarding the landmine explosion that occurred in the southern border area."

Kim argued, "In terms of the timing and methods of provocation, this incident is an obvious staged farce that directly mirrors the 'wooden-box landmine incident' that caused an uproar around the world about a decade ago."