North Korea Labels DMZ Mine Explosion Incident a ‘Farce’

North Korea said a South Korean investigation that blamed Pyongyang for a landmine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that injured two of Seoul’s troops was “a farce.”

On Sept. 30, North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong dismissed the findings as “another provocation” by “military gangsters.”

“It is too low and dirty as befitting the tribes of the ROK,” Kim said in a statement published by North Korea’s state-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

She went on to compare the current issue to the “wooden-box mine incident” of 2015. Seoul blamed the North for that blast, which also injured two South Korean soldiers. The two nations exchanged artillery fire before talks de-escalated the situation.

Kim’s dismissal of Seoul’s findings came on the same day that the United Nations Command (UNC), the body that formally decides whether the armistice has been breached, announced that the landmine blast violated the 1953 military ceasefire that paused the Korean War. Both countries are still technically at war.

“UNC is addressing the violation through established Armistice mechanisms,” the UNC said in a statement, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

The UNC said a joint investigation with the South Korean military identified an active North Korean mine on the South Korean side of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) marking the border between the North and South.

“UNC remains committed to maintaining and enforcing the Armistice Agreement and fulfilling its responsibilities to preserve stability and prevent escalation on the Korean Peninsula,” the UNC said.

In the wake of the UNC’s confirmation, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Operations Director Maj. Gen. Kang Hyun-woo issued an X post on Sept. 30. He called on North Korea to “immediately cease activities that escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula, such as so-called border fortification efforts,” and urged Pyongyang to “apologize and take responsible measures.”

South Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul told the parliament in Seoul on Sept. 29 that he and the nation’s military were convinced that Pyongyang was to blame for the blast, but were holding off any reaction until the UNC finished its inquiry.

“If confirmed, we will cooperate with the UNC and the international community, and clearly hold those responsible to account,” Kang said.

He told the parliament that South Korea would take “corresponding measures” against North Korea, but did not elaborate.

The blast occurred during an operation to clear a path for a joint inspection between the South Korean military and the UNC to investigate Seoul’s suspicions that North Korea buried land mines across the border.

Despite Kang’s allegation that the North planted the landmines in question, he urged caution about assuming the explosives had been planted recently. North Korea has not admitted to planting landmines since 1998.

“It does not appear to have been displaced from elsewhere,” he told the parliamentary committee; however, he said that soil and roots found over one of the mines indicated that it may have been buried for some time and could predate North Korean mine-laying detected by Seoul in the area in September 2025, the Korea Herald reported.

“We will strongly urge [North Korea] to come to the table so that we can verify the facts together,” he said.

The UNC statement did not say when they thought the mine had been planted.