An undetonated land mine was spotted near the site of last week's explosions inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that wounded three South Korean soldiers, Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday, citing military sources.
The South Korean military is investigating the cause of two explosions last Monday south of the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas. Two soldiers were severely wounded and another sustained minor injuries.
A Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official said troops reported seeing an object resembling a North Korean wooden-box mine near the blast site.
"We received testimony that (what the troops witnessed) was similar to a wooden-box land mine," the official said.
Some witnesses described the object as resembling a wooden-box mine but appearing to be made of plastic, while another believed it was a different type, according to the JCS.
South Korea's military and the UN Command, which oversees the border area, launched a joint investigation on Sunday but were unable to reach the blast site before operations ended at sunset.
The National Forensic Service is analyzing mine fragments and explosive residue collected from the soldiers' protective equipment.
Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul said investigators did not yet have enough evidence to determine the type of mine involved.
If the mines are confirmed to be North Korean, investigators will seek to establish whether they were washed south by rain or deliberately planted. The latter would constitute a violation of the armistice agreement that halted the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korean wooden-box mines exploded on the South Korean side of the DMZ in 2015, seriously injuring two soldiers.
