Seoul proposes military talks to verify the line and restore communications
North Korea’s permanent representative to the United Nations sent a Sunday letter to the president of the U.N. Security Council asserting that South Korea fabricated the Sept. 21 land-mine explosions inside the Demilitarized Zone, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Monday. South Korea had sent its own letter to the council Thursday, outlining its investigation into the explosions and accusing North Korea of violating the armistice agreement that halted the 1950-53 Korean War. The explosions injured three South Korean soldiers, two seriously. Seoul’s military concluded that North Korean troops planted the mines south of the Military Demarcation Line, the military boundary separating the two Koreas, a finding Pyongyang has rejected.
North Korea’s letter said South Korea had “fabricated” the mine blasts as a “sinister obstructive move” to delay and impede North Korea’s ongoing fortification work along its southern border, KCNA reported. The letter described the construction as a “legitimate and just exercise of its sovereignty” and a self-defense measure against outside aggression. The extensive effort began after leader Kim Jong Un declared inter-Korean relations to be those of “two hostile states” in late 2023; since April 2024, the work has included clearing land, reinforcing tactical roads, installing anti-tank barriers and laying mines. South Korean lawmakers briefed by the military said Friday that North Korea had planted an estimated 960,000 land mines along the inter-Korean border since 2024.
North Korea’s letter also accused the South Korean military of “opening fire on our service personnel involved in the border fortification project” and called that conduct a violation of the U.N. Charter’s prohibition on the threat or use of force against another country’s territorial integrity. South Korea’s military has issued warning broadcasts and fired warning shots when North Korean troops crossed the Military Demarcation Line during border construction work. The letter warned, “I remind you that if the ROK invades the territory of our country even a millimeter or perpetrates a direct provocation doing harm to our personnel’s safety and lives, the DPRK is legally entitled to exercise the right to self-defense,” using the official acronyms for South and North Korea, respectively.
Seoul has said differing understandings of the boundary’s precise location have increased the risk of accidental clashes. On Friday, South Korea proposed military talks with Pyongyang to jointly verify the line, restore military communication channels and discuss ways to prevent border confrontations.