Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Three South Korean military officers were injured in an explosion near the border with North Korea on Monday during an operation in the Demilitarised Zone, South Korea’s Defence Ministry said. The ministry said the cause of the blast was not immediately clear.
South Korean officials did not say whether the explosion could have been caused by a land mine planted by North Korea. The incident came amid concern in South Korea over increased activity by North Korean soldiers near the military demarcation line as the North strengthens its border defences.
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The explosion took place in the Demilitarised Zone, the buffer area separating the two countries. Two of the injured officers were taken from the site by helicopter, while the third was moved by land before also being airlifted, the ministry said. All three are being treated at a military hospital near Seoul.
North Korea has in recent months added mines, anti-tank barriers and other front-line fortifications as ties between the two sides have worsened sharply. South Korea’s military has not officially confirmed media reports that North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line more than 20 times during front-line operations in August alone.
In April 2025, South Korea’s military fired warning shots after about 10 North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line in the eastern section of the Demilitarised Zone. The North Korean soldiers retreated after South Korea broadcast audio warnings and fired the shots, and there were no clashes. In June 2024, North Korean troops crossed the border three times, prompting South Korea to fire warning shots.
The Demilitarised Zone is 248 kilometres long and 4 kilometres wide and is one of the world’s most heavily armed borders. An estimated 2 million mines are laid inside and near the border, which is also guarded by barbed-wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides. The zone is a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has in recent years suspended virtually all cooperation and diplomacy with South Korea while declaring Seoul his most hostile enemy during a stalemate in his wider nuclear talks with Washington. In earlier years, North Korean mines have washed down a swollen river into South Korea, killing or injuring civilians. In August 2015, land mine blasts maimed two South Korean soldiers and raised tensions between the two Koreas.
Monday’s blast injured three South Korean officers during a military operation in the Demilitarised Zone, with the cause still unclear, against the backdrop of rising border tensions and North Korea’s increased fortification activity.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
