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

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SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- Three military officers were injured Monday in an unidentified 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 earlier in the day, according to the JCS.

The military did not specify, but the accident is suspected to be a landmine explosion. It was not immediately known whether the landmine that went off was planted by North Korean troops or by the South Korean military.

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

Two of the injured officers were transported via an emergency helicopter to a hospital and are being treated for their injuries.

Other soldiers involved in the operation, including another officer who sustained injuries, will also be escorted to the hospital for a medical checkup.

Authorities said they plan to investigate the cause of the explosion.

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.

After North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other" in late 2023, 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.

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

The latest accident marked the first explosion within the DMZ since November 2025, when a South Korean solider suffered an ankle fracture while on a mission to detect landmines.

A landmine explosion caused by North Korea occurred in August 2015.

Three wooden-box landmines, buried by North Korea, exploded on the South Korean side of the DMZ in 2015, and one staff sergeant lost both legs and the other lost one ankle during their patrol mission.

sookim@yna.co.kr (END)

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

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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，发生不明爆炸，造成三名军官受伤。

据联合参谋部消息，爆炸发生在当天早些时候，地点位于非军事区西部的军事分界线（MDL）以南。

军方并未具体说明，但初步怀疑是地雷爆炸。目前尚不清楚爆炸的地雷是朝鲜军队还是韩国军方埋设的。

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）

两名受伤警员已被紧急送往医院接受治疗。

参与此次行动的其他士兵，包括另一名受伤的军官，也将被护送到医院进行体检。

当局表示，他们计划调查爆炸原因。

军方正在调查以下可能性：在非军事区道路清剿行动中，是否有不明地雷爆炸；或者朝鲜地雷是否可能被最近的暴雨冲刷而爆炸。

2023 年底，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。

联合参谋本部此前表示，已发现非军事区以南部分地区地形发生变化，并正在与联合国军司令部就朝鲜军队可能埋设地雷的可能性进行磋商。

最新一起事故标志着自 2025 年 11 月以来非军事区内发生的首起爆炸事件。当时，一名韩国士兵在执行探测地雷的任务时脚踝骨折。

2015年8月，朝鲜制造了一起地雷爆炸事件。

2015 年，朝鲜埋设的三枚木箱地雷在非军事区韩国一侧爆炸，一名军士长在巡逻任务中失去了双腿，另一名军士长失去了一只脚踝。

sookim@yna.co.kr (完)

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（导语）3名军官在非军事区行动中疑似遭地雷爆炸受伤