Zürcher Nachrichten - North Korea calls Seoul 'despicable' after DMZ apology demand

Pyongyang has denied being behind a landmine blast that caused severe injuries to three soldiers last month inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), the heavily mined buffer dividing the two Koreas since their 1953 armistice.

Seoul as well as the US-led United Nations Command said the blast was caused by North Korean mines laid on the South Korean side of the border.

The South Korean military demanded an official apology this week, accusing Pyongyang of "a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement".

In the first public response from Pyongyang, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said South Korea "even called for an apology" and added that it is "really despicable".

Her statement may dampen hopes of smoother relations between the neighbours after South Korea's dovish President Lee Jae Myung had urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue, even as his military called for an apology.

Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Since 2024, after Kim Jong Un designated South Korea as his country's "principal enemy", Pyongyang's military has laid mines and built anti-tank barriers along the frontier as part of efforts to permanently seal it off.

The mines responsible for last month's blast were believed to have been laid as part of Pyongyang's border fortification work, according to South Korea's defence minister Kang Shin-chul.

The United Nations Command, which oversees the Korean War armistice and the southern side of the DMZ, said Wednesday it had found an active North Korean anti-personnel mine on the South Korean side of the border.

South Korea's Lee, who took office in June 2025, has reversed the stance of his hawkish predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol, offering nuclear-armed Pyongyang talks without preconditions.

On Thursday, a day after the South Korean military demanded an apology, Lee said that he hoped the North would "join us now on the path of restoring trust and resuming dialogue, following a long interruption".

"My administration will consistently pursue practical measures to reduce military tensions between the two Koreas," he said.

- 'Mocked' -

However, Kim Yo Jong ridiculed Lee's latest overture, calling it "the climax of the farce that everyone should watch".

South Korea's opposition People Power Party responded by accusing Lee of failing to criticise Pyongyang when warranted even as he takes a hard line on Ukraine for disclosing the confidential transfer of North Korean prisoners of war.

"South Korean soldiers have been injured, and far from receiving an apology, we have been mocked by North Korea," the opposition party said in a statement.

"We fail to see how selectively turning a blind eye to North Korea serves South Korea's dignity or the safety of its people."

As a possible response to the DMZ blast, analysts have floated resuming blaring K-pop music across the border, which the isolated North has long bristled at.

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

The flare-up comes at a sensitive time. US President Donald Trump's recent overtures to Pyongyang raised concerns that Seoul -- an ally of Washington -- could be sidelined in potential nuclear talks involving the North, which is backed by Russia as well as China.

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.

"For the time being, North Korea has good income from military supplies to Russia and uses it to balance China, hence little interest in normalisation with Japan, South Korea or even the US," Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, told AFP.

"However, the war (in Ukraine) will end at some point, the profits from arms exports to Russia will drop and North Korean diplomatic tone may change, too."

Y.Keller--NZN