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 The South Korean military blamed Pyongyang for placing the mines
in a neutral area within the heavily fortified DMZ, saying the area
around the blast had been swept for mines and the terrain made it
impossible for mines to have drifted due to rain or shifting soil.
It also said wooden fragments from the exploded mines had paint used
by the North and were consistent with mines that North Korea
typically uses.
"If South Korea wants to keep insisting this was our army's act,
then show a video to prove it. If you don't have it, don't ever say
'North Korean provocation' again out of your mouth," North Korea's
state KCNA news agency quoted the country's National Defence
Commission as saying.
North Korea's top defense body also said mines can explode due to
natural causes such as rain and fire in the DMZ.
The South Korean army has said that because of low visibility due to
heavy rain and thick woods, surveillance cameras could not capture
North Korean soldiers planting the mines.
The South's military has threatened retaliation and resumed
anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts along the border via loud
speakers.
North and South Korea are technically still at war as the 1950-1953
Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The United Nations Command overseeing the armistice agreement asked
the reclusive state for a meeting over the incident.
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The DMZ is a 4-km (2.5-mile) wide buffer fortified with landmines
and barbed wire stretching across the Korean peninsula, with more
than a million soldiers and heavy military equipment deployed on
both sides.
In another incident that led to a chill in North-South relations in
2010, Pyongyang denied any involvement in the sinking of a South
Korean navy ship that killed 46 sailors, after South Korea blamed it
for firing a torpedo at the vessel.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Tony Munroe)
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