Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.chinadailyasia.com
SEOUL — The Republic of Korea sent a letter to the President of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, urging the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to apologize for a recent land mine explosion in the inter-Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) and take responsible measures, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The ROK’s permanent representative to the United Nations sent the letter on Thursday, saying the blast was caused by mines planted by the DPRK military and constituted a clear violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement, which officially ended the three-year-long Korean War.
The letter also urged the DPRK to engage in dialogue to prevent further escalation of tensions and restore mutual trust. It called on the international community to take note of the DPRK’s recent description of the ROK’s military activities near the military demarcation line (MDL) as “provocations” and its attempts to blame the ROK for escalating regional tensions.
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The explosion occurred on Sept 21, when the ROK’s soldiers were carrying out a mission on the ROK side of the DMZ near the MDL, injuring three soldiers, two of them seriously.
The ROK’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Oct 5 that its final investigation found the blast had been caused by anti-personnel mines planted by the DPRK south of the MDL, urging the DPRK to apologize and immediately remove the mines.
The DPRK foreign ministry rejected the ROK’s findings on Oct 6, calling the incident a “farce” fabricated by the ROK and accusing Seoul of imposing a unilateral conclusion and shifting responsibility to the DPRK in what it described as a serious provocation aimed at damaging the DPRK’s national image.
Communication channels
Also on Thursday, the ROK urged the DPRK to build communication channels to prevent any accidental clashes along the inter-Korean border.
“The fundamental solution to preventing the risk of inter-Korean tensions and clashes is to align their perspectives on the military demarcation line and swiftly establish a communication framework for peaceful management,” the Ministry of Unification said in a statement.
The ministry noted that the two sides had engaged in loudspeaker broadcasts at each other and caused unbearable distress to residents in border areas, adding that such past mistakes must not be repeated.
ALSO READ: Official: DPRK to use loudspeakers for psychological warfare against ROK
The statement came as a response to the statement by Kim Yo-jong, department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, who said Wednesday that Pyongyang will use loudspeakers for psychological warfare against Seoul along the border this month, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Kim accused the ROK of committing “provocative warning loudspeaker blaring and shots again in at least two spots” on Wednesday, KCNA reported.
She warned that if the ROK’s warning shots resulted in actual harm to the DPRK’s territorial security or the safety of its service personnel, the country’s border guards would show “no mercy.”
