DMZ mine blast was a North Korean provocation, not an 'accident'

At an Armed Forces Day ceremony on Thursday, President Lee Jae Myung referred to the incident 10 days earlier, in which three South Korean service members were seriously or moderately injured by mines planted by North Korea in the demilitarized zone (DMZ), as an “unfortunate accident.”

There was no condemnation of North Korea for violating the 1950-53 Korean War Armistice Agreement or any rebuttal of Workers’ Party of Korea Deputy Department Director Kim Yo-jong’s claim that Seoul fabricated the incident.

Instead, Lee said, “My administration will consistently pursue practical measures to reduce military tensions between the two Koreas.”

First, Lee’s remarks are difficult to reconcile with the positions announced a day earlier by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the United Nations Command, which formally determined that North Korea had violated the Armistice Agreement.

The JCS demanded that Pyongyang immediately halt activities that heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula, including what North Korea calls its “border fortification,” and strongly called for an apology and responsible measures. It also warned that North Korea would bear responsibility for any situation that follows.

Such a warning reflects the military’s determination that North Korea’s planting of mines inside the DMZ was an illegal violation of the agreement and a provocative act. Yet the commander-in-chief described the incident in terms inconsistent with the military’s warning.

This was not simply an “unfortunate accident.” It was the consequence of a provocative act: planting mines. Mines are placed with the intention of harming an adversary. Had North Korea planted them within territory under its own control, it might have claimed they were defensive. Planting them inside the DMZ, however, constitutes a clear provocation. Why can the government not call a provocation what it is?

The incident also reconfirms that it is North Korea, not South Korea, that is heightening military tensions on the peninsula. Efforts to reduce those tensions are primarily something Pyongyang must undertake or, at the very least, something both Koreas should pursue together.

North Korea’s border fortification activities have already caused clear harm and could do so again. It is therefore questionable how many South Koreans will support an approach under which Seoul alone promises measures to reduce tensions despite continuing North Korean provocations.

Body-camera footage recently shown at the National Assembly captured the chaotic aftermath of the DMZ explosions. A wounded staff sergeant instructed fellow soldiers to care first for his battalion commander, who was more seriously injured, before crawling away from the blast site himself.

The president should consider how his words must have sounded to service members who watched their comrades suffer injuries from North Korean mines.