President Park Geun-hye vowed Wednesday to sternly deal with North Korea's provocations as South Korea is weighing retaliation options against the North.
  

The warning came amid public outrage against North Korea over its land mine attack in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.
  

Two staff sergeants lost their legs -- one of them both legs and the other one leg -- when the land mines exploded on Aug. 4 during their patrol mission on the southern side of the buffer zone.
  

"We will sternly deal with North Korea's provocations," Park said in a meeting with independence fighters and their offspring at Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office. "But at the same time, we will make every effort to ensure this kind of thing won't happen and establish peace."
  

The meeting came three days before South Korea commemorates the 70th anniversary of its independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. (Yonhap)