North Korea rejects South’s accusation over DMZ mine blast and won’t apologise

SEOUL – North Korea on Oct 2 rejected as “groundless” Seoul’s accusation that North Korean mines seriously wounded South Korean soldiers in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) and dismissed Seoul’s demand for an apology, state news agency KCNA reported.Kim Yo Jong, an official of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party and the influential sister of their leader Kim Jong Un, said Pyongyang had not deliberately planted mines in the border zone, KCNA reported.South Korea has jumped to the groundless conclusion that the explosion was caused by someone’s covert and intended mine-laying, she said in a statement carried by KCNA.“They even called for an ‘apology’. It is really despicable,” she added.South Korea said this week North Korean mines caused the blast that seriously wounded two of its soldiers and injured another on a reconnaissance mission inside the 4km wide border that stretches across the Korean Peninsula.Its military demanded North Korea apologise and halt work fortifying the border, saying it would take “corresponding” action in response.South Korea’s military has conducted a probe of the Sept 21 incident with the United Nations Command that oversees the Korean War armistice. The UN Command said on Sept 30 that the incident constituted a violation of the agreement.Kim said the fortification being conducted in the border zone was designed to seal the border shut for good so that “even wild animals cannot come and go”.“Why do they suppose that we would have done so to go with them?” she said, referring to the mine blast.North Korea has sharply ramped up hostility against the South in recent years, disavowing unification as a national goal and calling South Korea its “primary foe”. REUTERS