Three South Korean military personnel members were injured Monday after an unidentified explosion occurred during an operation in the western section of the Demilitarized Zone, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The blast took place in an area south of the Military Demarcation Line, which divides the two Koreas, earlier in the day, according to the JCS.
Two of the injured were transported by emergency helicopter to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital, where they are receiving treatment, the JCS said in a notice to reporters.
The third injured service member, along with other troops who took part in the operation, will also be transported to the military hospital for thorough medical examinations, the JCS said.
The military said it plans to investigate the cause of the explosion. It did not specify what caused the blast, though observers say a land mine is among the possible causes being considered.
A similar incident occurred in November last year, when an Army staff sergeant was injured in an unidentified explosion while conducting a land-mine detection mission in the western section of the DMZ.
The soldier was conducting the mission south of the MDL in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, when the explosion occurred on Nov. 20, 2025. He suffered a suspected ankle fracture and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
The DMZ, a roughly 4-kilometer-wide buffer zone stretching across the Korean Peninsula, remains heavily mined decades after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving North and South Korea technically still at war.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
