North Korea accused of laying mines on border

North Korea has denied planting land mines that maimed two South Korean soldiers near their guard post. Three land mines that the South said were manufactured by North Korea exploded on August 4th when the two soldiers stepped on them just outside their post inside the South Korean half of the demilitarized zone, a buffer separating large contingents of the two countries' armies. One soldier lost both legs and the other one leg in the blasts.

On Monday, the South and the US-led UN command said a joint investigation had concluded that the mines had been planted by North Korean troops. As evidence, they presented the debris of wooden- box land mines used by the North Korean military.

‘Nonsense’

On Friday, the North called those findings “nonsense” and accused

South Korea

of using stray North Korean mines it had collected from the buffer zone to fabricate the incident in an attempt to drive up military tension. It challenged the South to provide more persuasive evidence, such as video footage, that the mines had been planted by North Korea.

“If the same mines had exploded in the heart of Seoul, are they still going to insist that our troops went and planted them there?” a North Korean spokesman was quoted as saying by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

The South Korean military said yesterday the North’s military had sent a similar denial across the border by telephone. The South, as it had earlier, vowed “severe retaliation”.

Chilly relations

The mine explosions worsened already chilly relations between the two Koreas. As part of its initial response, the South turned on its battery of loudspeakers on the border with the North for the first time in 11 years, blaring propaganda broadcasts that included harsh criticism of the North Korean government.

On Friday, activists in the South released balloons carrying propaganda leaflets across the border. The balloons also carried a large banner that called the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, "a bloodthirsty murderer" and "human trash".

For its part, state-run television in the North this week showed North Korean soldiers shooting at an image of the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, with pistols and rifles. The North also warned that it was ready to attack the White House in Washington and the Blue House, the presidential office in Seoul, saying that a joint South Korea-US military exercise scheduled to begin next week was bringing the Korean peninsula to the brink of war.