(3rd LD) 3 military officers injured in suspected landmine explosion during operation at DMZ

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(ATTN: ADDS details in paras 3, 10) By Kim Hyun-soo

SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- Three military officers were injured Monday in a suspected landmine explosion during a search operation at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The explosion occurred south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in the western sector of the DMZ at around 10:50 a.m., according to JCS officials.

Of the injured, two senior military officers sustained serious wounds, including one who lost his ankle, according to military sources. None of the wounded officers were in life-threatening condition, the sources said.

The military dispatched an emergency helicopter inside the heavily fortified DMZ in coordination with the U.N. Command (UNC) to escort the patients, according to the sources.

Military authorities said they are investigating the cause of the accident, noting the explosion was highly likely to have been caused by a landmine.

"There was an unidentified explosion, and it appears that there is a high probability that it was a landmine explosion," a JCS official said.

It was not immediately known whether the landmine that went off was planted by North Korean troops or by the South Korean military.

Leaving "all possibilities open", the military is looking into the chance that an unidentified landmine went off during a DMZ route clearance operation or the possibility that North Korean landmines, swept by the recent torrential rains, might have exploded.

The South Korean troops were reportedly conducting operations to clear routes inside the DMZ to search for landmines and other explosives, and secure a safe path for operations, the JCS official said.

Asked why the military had belatedly informed the press of the accident hours after it occurred, the JCS official said the military had been focused on transporting the injured personnel to a hospital, adding that the safety of the troops comes first.

This file photo shows North Korea as seen from the border city of Paju, north of Seoul, on Sept. 8, 2026. (Yonhap)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other" in late 2023, and the North has been fortifying the border since April 2024 by reinforcing barbed wire fences, planting mines and erecting anti-tank barriers along the MDL.

Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the main opposition People Power Party claimed Monday that the site of the explosion at the 25th Infantry Division was near an area south of the MDL where North Korean troops were believed to have crossed the border to bury landmines.

However, the JCS official dismissed the lawmaker's claim, saying the site of the blast was "distanced" from the location mentioned by Rep. Yu.

The JCS earlier said it has identified some terrain changes in some parts south of the MDL and was in consultations with the UNC over the possibility that North Korean troops may have planted landmines.

The latest accident marked the first landmine explosion on the South Korean side of the DMZ that left a serious injury since August 2015, when three wooden-box landmines, buried by North Korea, exploded. At that time, one South Korean staff sergeant lost both legs and another lost an ankle during their patrol mission.

It was also the first blast within the DMZ since November 2025, when a South Korean soldier suffered an ankle fracture while on a mission to detect landmines.

sookim@yna.co.kr (END)

(3rd LD) 3 military officers injured in suspected landmine explosion during operation at DMZ

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（注：第3段和第10段补充细节）金贤洙

首尔，9月21日（韩联社）——韩国联合参谋本部表示，周一，在朝韩非军事区（DMZ）的一次搜查行动中，疑似发生地雷爆炸，造成三名军官受伤。

据参谋长联席会议官员称，爆炸发生在上午 10 点 50 分左右，地点位于非军事区西部的军事分界线（MDL）以南。

据军方消息人士透露，伤者中有两名高级军官伤势严重，其中一人失去了脚踝。消息人士称，所有受伤军官均无生命危险。

消息人士称，军方与联合国军司令部协调，派遣一架紧急直升机进入戒备森严的非军事区，护送伤员。

军方表示，他们正在调查事故原因，并指出爆炸极有可能是由地雷引起的。

“发生了一起不明爆炸，很可能是地雷爆炸，”一名联合参谋部官员说。

目前尚不清楚爆炸的地雷是朝鲜军队埋设的还是韩国军方埋设的。

军方“不排除一切可能性”，正在调查在非军事区道路清剿行动中是否发生不明地雷爆炸，或者朝鲜地雷是否可能被最近的暴雨冲刷而爆炸。

据韩国联合参谋本部官员称，韩国军队正在非军事区内开展行动，清理道路，搜寻地雷和其他爆炸物，并确保行动通道的安全。

当被问及为何军方在事故发生数小时后才向媒体通报情况时，联合参谋本部官员表示，军方一直专注于将受伤人员送往医院，并补充说，部队的安全是第一位的。

这张资料照片显示的是2026年9月8日从首尔以北的边境城市坡州市拍摄的朝鲜景色。（韩联社）

2023 年末，朝鲜领导人金正恩宣布朝韩关系为“两个敌对国家”之间的关系。自 2024 年 4 月以来，朝鲜一直在加强边境防御，包括加固铁丝网、埋设地雷以及沿军事分界线设置反坦克障碍。

朝鲜主要反对党国民力量党议员俞永元周一声称，第25步兵师爆炸地点位于军事分界线以南的地区附近，据信朝鲜军队曾越过边境在那里埋设地雷。

然而，日本联合参谋本部官员驳斥了该议员的说法，称爆炸地点与余议员提到的地点“相距甚远”。

联合参谋本部此前表示，已发现军事分界线以南部分地区地形发生变化，并正在与联合国军协商，讨论朝鲜军队可能埋设地雷的可能性。

此次事故是自2015年8月以来，非军事区韩国一侧首次发生造成严重伤亡的地雷爆炸事件。当时，朝鲜埋设的三枚木箱地雷爆炸，导致一名韩国陆军中士在巡逻任务中失去双腿，另一名中士失去脚踝。

这也是自 2025 年 11 月以来，非军事区内发生的第一起爆炸事件。当时，一名韩国士兵在执行探测地雷的任务时脚踝骨折。

sookim@yna.co.kr (完)

（第三路）3名军官在非军事区行动中疑似遭地雷爆炸受伤