Kim Yo Jong calls Seoul 'despicable' over DMZ blast

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called South Korea “despicable” after Seoul demanded an official apology over a Demilitarised Zone landmine blast that wounded three South Korean soldiers.

Pyongyang has denied being behind the blast, which South Korea says happened last month inside the DMZ, the heavily mined buffer dividing the two Koreas. South Korea’s military called the incident “a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement”.

South Korea’s defence minister, Kang Shin-chul, told a parliamentary hearing that preliminary findings found North Korea responsible for the September 21 explosion. One of the injured South Korean troops lost a foot.

Kang said North Korean mines were believed to have been laid as part of Pyongyang’s border fortification work. Yang Jin-hyeok of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said a site investigation had found an unexploded North Korean plastic anti-personnel mine.

The US-led United Nations Command, which oversees the Korean War armistice and the southern side of the DMZ, also said Wednesday it had found an active North Korean anti-personnel mine on the South Korean side of the border.

Kim Yo Jong’s statement came after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue. Lee said Thursday he hoped North Korea would “join us now on the path of restoring trust and resuming dialogue” and said his administration would pursue practical steps to reduce military tensions.

Kim dismissed Lee’s overture as “the climax of the farce that everyone should watch”.

South Korea and North Korea remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Since 2024, after Kim Jong Un designated South Korea as North Korea’s “principal enemy”, Pyongyang’s military has laid mines and built anti-tank barriers along the frontier as part of efforts to seal it off.