South Korea will send a letter to the UN Security Council on Thursday, New York time, saying the blast that wounded its soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) last month was caused by mines planted by North Korea and constituted a violation of the armistice that ended the 1950–53 Korean War, foreign ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon said at a regular briefing in Seoul on Thursday, Aju Press (AJP) reported.

Source: Aju Press (AJP)

The letter, to be sent by South Korea's ambassador to the United Nations in New York, will call on Pyongyang to apologise and take responsibility for the incident, and will explain that the explosion was caused by landmines planted by North Korean troops along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) as part of Pyongyang's years-long work to fortify the border area, the ministry said.

The blast on September 21 injured three South Korean soldiers, two of whom were seriously wounded. A joint investigation by the South Korean military and the UN Command concluded that North Korean landmines caused the explosion, AJP said. The Korea JoongAng Daily reported the same finding, and South Korea's UN Ambassador Cha Ji-hoon told a UN General Assembly committee on October 9 that the mine had been deliberately planted south of the MDL and called the incident a clear breach of the Armistice Agreement.

Source: Korea JoongAng Daily

North Korea has brushed off Seoul's accusations, calling them a “fabricated farce,” AJP reported. At the UN earlier this month, the North Korean representative rejected the charge and described it, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily, as an attempt by South Korea to shift blame onto Pyongyang.

Park also urged North Korea to avoid further tensions and return to dialogue to rebuild trust between the two Koreas, AJP said. Seoul's defence ministry has separately said it plans to formalise the North's alleged armistice violations and demand an immediate halt to border breaches, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported.