DMZ blast injures three South Korean officers, Seoul says

Three South Korean military officers were injured in an explosion during an operation inside the Demilitarized Zone near the border with North Korea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.

The JCS said the blast happened at a location south of the Military Demarcation Line, which separates the two Koreas inside the DMZ. It said the cause was not immediately clear, including whether the explosion involved a North Korean mine, a South Korean mine or another explosive device.

Two of the injured officers were evacuated by helicopter. The third was due to be moved by road before being airlifted, the JCS said. The military did not immediately give details on the severity of their injuries.

Yonhap TV had earlier reported that three soldiers were injured in a suspected mine blast during an operation involving the 25th Infantry Division, and that one was seriously injured. Yonhap TV said the injured soldiers were taken to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital.

The DMZ is a 248-kilometre-long and roughly four-kilometre-wide buffer zone that has divided the Korean Peninsula since the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War. Its northern and southern boundaries remain heavily fortified and are littered with landmines.

Around 800,000 mines are estimated to be buried around the area, according to military data cited by Yonhap news agency. Since 2024, after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un designated South Korea as his country's “principal enemy,” Pyongyang's military has laid mines and built anti-tank barriers along the border, according to the supplied AFP report.

South Korea's military has previously said several North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded in accidental mine explosions during those works. In 2015, two South Korean soldiers were seriously wounded when a landmine exploded on the southern side of the DMZ; Seoul accused North Korean troops of planting the mines, an allegation Pyongyang denied.