Blue House denies that delay in mine blast inspection is connected to Lee's UN remarks

The Blue House on Tuesday rejected allegations that the timing of the military’s inspection of a mine blast site was tied to President Lee Jae Myung’s remarks on sanctions relief for North Korea ahead of last week’s United Nations General Assembly.

The main opposition People Power Party has accused the government of delaying an inspection of the site due to concerns that Lee’s call for sanctions relief would be undermined if North Korea were found responsible for the mine blast that injured three South Korean soldiers inside the demilitarized zone last week.

The military on Monday announced preliminary findings that the explosion was highly likely to have been caused by illegally planted North Korean mines.

“The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the UN Command planned and decided [on the timing of the inspection] purely based on a military judgment in consideration of the suggestions of field commanders,” a presidential official said. “The military’s on-site inspection regarding the mine accident has nothing to do with the president’s UN speech.”

Lee had said in an interview with The New York Times ahead of his attendance at the UN General Assembly that he believes that there is “significant value in a trade-off between sanctions, which are not particularly effective anyway, and a stop to the development of additional nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile technology.”

Yonhap