Three South Korean military personnel were wounded Monday, one of them seriously, in an explosion during a search operation inside the Demilitarized Zone.
The explosion occurred in the western section of the DMZ, south of the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The JCS has yet to determine the cause of the blast. Possibilities they are considering include whether it was triggered by a land mine and, if so, whether the mine had been laid by South Korean or North Korean forces.
The military dispatched an emergency helicopter into the DMZ following the explosion and airlifted two of the injured personnel to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital. The military coordinated with the United Nations Command over the helicopter's entry into the DMZ.
One of the two personnel transported by helicopter reportedly had their foot amputated and was undergoing surgery.
The third injured service member, whose injuries were classified as minor, as well as other troops who took part in the operation, will also be transported to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital for medical examinations, according to the JCS.
The incident has drawn particular attention amid suspicions that North Korean troops may have crossed south of the MDL and planted land mines in parts of the DMZ.
At a regular Defense Ministry briefing on Sept. 14, the JCS said the South Korean military had been closely monitoring North Korean activities, including incursions across the MDL, and taking measures in accordance with established operational procedures.
"We have identified changes to the terrain in some areas and are closely coordinating with the United Nations Command regarding the possibility that land mines may have been planted," the JCS said at the time.
A JCS official, declining to be named, however, cautioned against linking Monday's explosion to the areas where the suspected North Korean mine-laying activity may have taken place.
The accident reportedly occurred while troops were clearing a search route as part of a DMZ search operation.
The official confirmed that the operation took place within the DMZ, between the MDL and the Southern Limit Line, but said the troops had not reached the areas where the military had previously detected changes to the terrain.
"The site of the incident is some distance away from those areas," the official added.
The military has launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion.
A similar incident occurred in November last year, when an Army staff sergeant was injured in an unidentified explosion while conducting a land mine detection mission in the western section of the DMZ.
The soldier was carrying out the mission south of the MDL in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 20, 2025, when the explosion occurred. He suffered a suspected ankle fracture and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
The DMZ, a roughly 4-kilometer-wide buffer zone stretching across the Korean Peninsula, remains heavily mined decades after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
