(ATTN: ADDS more info, latest developments from para 8, additional photos; TRIMS)
SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Wednesday denied South Korea's announcement that a North Korean mine likely caused a recent blast inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), accusing Seoul of fabricating the findings and warning of "immediate and merciless" retaliation if its troops are fired upon.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, issued the warning in a statement after the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced Monday that North Korean land mines were "highly likely" to have caused the explosion on Sept. 21 that left three South Korean soldiers injured.
This file photo, taken March 12, 2019, shows Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)
In the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim said the South Korean military is "cooking up the groundless results and 'justifying their conduct' for political and military provocation against the DPRK, openly talking about 'reasonable and corresponding enforcement of measures.'"
DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Kim claimed the North Korean military began building barriers in the southern border areas two years ago, saying the work is "only a thorough exercise of sovereignty unrelated with any military purposes."
Stressing that its soldiers "have never crossed the border," she accused the South Korean military of threatening them with warning broadcasts and shots.
"If the ROK military gangsters fire at our soldiers carrying on the permanent project for the southern border, not warning shots, our border units will take immediate and merciless retaliate attack," Kim said.
She added the North Korean army has decided to take measures "to increase the tactical counterattack means" toward the DMZ area near South Korea's 21st Infantry Division of the 3rd Corps, warning that counteraction principles have already been issued to border defense units.
The 21st Infantry Division is located on the eastern front, not the western front where the mine blast occurred. North Korean troops have been detected crossing the western section of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in recent months.
"If the frequency of malicious accusation and provocation against us in the border region are frequent and lead to an encroachment on our actual territory and military sovereignty, the rogue group will have to face a situation that has not yet been experienced," she said.
The statement came as Seoul's Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul earlier warned that Seoul would take "corresponding measures" if the DMZ blast is confirmed to have been caused by mines planted by the North.
This photo, released by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sept. 29, 2026, shows a North Korean resin antipersonnel mine that the South Korean military found the same day near the site of mine explosions inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas that left three South Korean service members injured. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
North Korea has been fortifying the inter-Korean border since April 2024 by reinforcing barbed-wire fences, planting mines and erecting anti-tank barriers along the MDL after its leader Kim declared inter-Korean ties to be those between "two states hostile to each other" the previous year.
North Korean troops have recently increased their crossings of the MDL, with more than 20 such cases reported last month alone, exceeding the 17 cases recorded throughout 2025, authorities said.
South Korea's defense minister told lawmakers Tuesday that Pyongyang appeared to have planted mines at "several locations" south of the MDL.
On Wednesday, the JCS urged the North to apologize and take responsible measures over the recent blast, stressing that Pyongyang "bears full responsibility for any future consequences that may arise."
The U.N. Command, which oversees the border area, also said the mine explosion constituted a violation of the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
Maj. Gen. Yang Jin-hyuk, director of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff operations planning division, attends a press conference at the defense ministry headquarters in Seoul on Sept. 28, 2026, to announce the interim results of a military investigation with the U.N. Command into mine explosions inside the Demilitarized Zone on Sept. 21 that left two South Korean soldiers severely injured and another with minor injuries. North Korean land mines were highly likely the cause of the recent explosion inside the DMZ, the military said, vowing to hold Pyongyang "fully" accountable and take corresponding measures if confirmed. (Yonhap)
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