North Korea has placed about 960,000 anti-personnel mines along its border with South Korea since the beginning of 2024. This is according to estimates by the South Korean army, quoted by the DPA agency and the South Korean agency “Yonhap“, citing several lawmakers.
According to military experts, there are already over 2 million anti-personnel mines along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two countries, including those laid by the South Korean military. About half of them have been built in the past two years.
The DMZ is a roughly 4-kilometer-wide buffer zone that separates North and South Korea. The two countries have remained divided since the end of the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953.
Since early 2024, Pyongyang has significantly increased its border fortifications with the South. On the orders of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, all historical road and rail links between the two countries have been destroyed. North Korean authorities have also been laying anti-personnel mines and building barbed wire fences and additional fences.
The expansion of border fortifications increases the risk of incidents. On September 21, three South Korean soldiers were injured, some seriously, when an anti-personnel mine, believed to have been planted by North Korea, exploded. The leadership in Pyongyang denied responsibility for what happened.
The strengthening of defense facilities along the border is also associated with a change in Kim Jong-un's policy towards South Korea. Since its founding in 1948, North Korea has officially supported the goal of unifying the peninsula. However, in late 2023, Kim began to distance himself from this policy, declaring South Korea the "main enemy". Pyongyang subsequently removed all references to unification with the South from its constitution.
The Korean peninsula was divided into a communist North and a democratic South after the Korean War. The conflict ended with the signing of an armistice, but to this day the two sides have not signed a peace treaty.
Clarify when the mines were laidClarify the wording of the incident