South Korea president urges Pyongyang dialogue after DMZ blasts

SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung urged North Korea on Thursday (Oct 1) to return to dialogue, a day after Seoul's military demanded an apology over a blast in the demilitarised zone that severely injured three South Korean soldiers.

Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war since the 1950 to 1953 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Three South Korean officers were severely injured in the Sep 21 explosion inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), the heavily mined buffer dividing the two Koreas since their 1953 armistice. One lost his foot.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un denied on Wednesday that North Korea was behind the landmine blasts.

"The knots in inter-Korean relations are extremely complex, but we will steadily, patiently strive to untie them, one by one," Lee said on Thursday in his speech marking South Korea's Armed Forces Day.

"I hope that the North joins us now on the path of restoring trust and resuming dialogue, following a long interruption," he added.

A day earlier, Seoul's military had demanded an apology from North Korea, claiming the incident was "a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement and undermines the spirit of existing inter-Korean agreements".

The US-led United Nations Command (UNC) also said on Wednesday that a joint investigation with Seoul's military had "identified an active Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea's) anti-personnel mine on the ROK side of the Military Demarcation Line".

"Based on the findings of the investigation, UNC determined that an Armistice Agreement violation occurred," it added, reiterating what Seoul said a day earlier.

But Kim's sister said South Korea's assertion was "too low and dirty", and accused Seoul of trying to fabricate evidence after blaming the regime for the mines incident.

"We will never remain a passive onlooker to the hostile acts causing great concern in the border area," she added.

LOUDSPEAKERS

President Lee has reversed the stance of his hawkish predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol since taking power in June 2025, offering nuclear-armed Pyongyang talks without preconditions.

Lee said last month that Washington should seek a freeze, rather than the immediate elimination, of North Korea's nuclear programme and offer sanctions relief in return.

US President Donald Trump's recent overtures to Pyongyang have raised concerns that Seoul - Washington's ally - could be sidelined in potential nuclear talks involving the North, which is now backed by Russia on top of China.

Resuming blaring K-pop music across the border - which the isolated North has long bristled at - has been floated by experts as a possible response.

But others say Seoul has few realistic options for retaliation without further burdening border residents already exposed to disruption and danger.

During previous bouts of inter-Korean tension, Pyongyang sent trash-carrying balloons across the border and blasted bizarre, unsettling noises over the boundary.

The intention of Lee's speech could be aimed at establishing dialogue and discussing the issues, Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.

"To have dialogue, there needs to be a channel of communication, and once communication takes place through that channel, these issues can be raised and measures taken to prevent a recurrence," said Yang.