South Korea demands apology from Pyongyang for landmine blasts that injured three

South Korea's military has demanded an apology from North Korea for landmine blasts along their shared border that wounded South Korean soldiers earlier this month.

Key points

• South Korean Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul previously remarked on Tuesday that the blasts were a "clear" violation of the 1953 armistice.
• Three South Korean personnel were injured by explosions in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) – a buffer zone separating the two Koreas, on 21 September.
• Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accused South Korea of "cooking up" the claims for "political and military provocation".
• It conducted the on-site investigations into the blasts with the South Korean military, remarked it would handle the violation of the 1953 armistice "through established Armistice mechanisms".
• In 2015, two South Korean soldiers were maimed by landmines while patrolling the area.

South Korea remarked on Tuesday that the blasts. It happened on South Korea's side of the DMZ, were "highly likely" from North Korean mines. It vowed to take "corresponding measures" for what it remarked was a violation of a decades-old armistice.

North Korea has denied responsibility for the blasts, calling Seoul's claims "groundless" and a "farce" to escalate tensions on the peninsula.

Kim denied suggestions that North Korean had crossed the border to plant the mines, calling it "a deliberate and planned strained assertion to shift the responsibility for escalating tension" to North Korea.

Her statement, published in state media on Wednesday, additionally cautioned the South to be "prepared for paying price for the farce of their own making."

South Korea notes the mines are believed to have been laid by Pyongyang to fortify its border. In an official note on Wednesday, it pressed North Korea to apologise for the blast and put an immediate stop to such fortification activities along the border.

South Korean Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul previously remarked on Tuesday that the blasts were a "clear" violation of the 1953 armistice. It halted active combat in the Korean War.

That armistice resulted in the creation of the 4km-wide (2.5mi) DMZ, a buffer strip containing the Military Demarcation Line which marks the land border between the two Koreas.

In the decades since, sporadic clashes and mine explosions have broken out in the DMZ.

In 2015, two South Korean soldiers were maimed by landmines while patrolling the area. South Korea remarked the mines had been secretly planted by North Korean soldiers near a South Korean guard post – a claim that Pyongyang denied.

Kim referenced that 2015 incident in her statement on Wednesday, claiming South Korea had applied that as a "pretext" to escalate tensions, and were doing the same thing now.

Notably, the United Nations Command. It conducted the on-site investigations into the blasts with the South Korean military, remarked it would handle the violation of the 1953 armistice "through established Armistice mechanisms".

"UNC remains committed to maintaining and enforcing the Armistice Agreement and fulfilling its responsibilities to preserve stability and prevent escalation on the Korean Peninsula, " it remarked.

For now, south Korea demands apology from Pyongyang for landmine blasts that injured three remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.