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Yang Jin-hyeok, head of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, holds up a previously recovered anti-personnel plastic landmine during a briefing on the final findings of the joint on-site inspection task force regarding the DMZ landmine explosion, held at the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the 5th. / Yonhap

The North Korean Foreign Ministry defined the DMZ landmine explosion on the 6th as a fabrication by the South Korean government, calling it a "grave provocation."

According to a report by the Korean Central News Agency on that day, the North Korean Foreign Ministry stated, "We will be more resolute and unequivocal in exercising sovereignty against the most hostile state," conveying this stance.

The Foreign Ministry stated, "Dark clouds of war carrying a new level of danger are gathering heavily over our southern border, which borders the most hostile state," adding, "South Korea announced so-called 'final investigation findings' that forcibly linked the landmine explosion near the border area to us, talking nonsense about carrying out diplomatic and military countermeasures against our state starting with mine clearance operations."

It went on, "With this, the ultimate objective of the fabricated farce planned and directed by Seoul has been entirely exposed and proven without doubt by their own doing, just as we observed," adding, "The landmine explosion is nothing more than an insidious sabotage scheme to denounce, delay, and disrupt our southern border fortification—which is a thorough exercise of our sovereignty—as military aggression, and a shallow ploy by the South Korean military trying to find an exit by pinning blame on us for a mysterious accident suffered on their own."

It continued, "South Korea's attempt to shift blame to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for a fabricated setup it unilaterally manufactured and concluded, thereby tarnishing our international image, is a grave provocation that can never be tolerated and a serious infringement of sovereignty that must be met with consequences," adding, "We entirely reject South Korea's sinister attempts and solemnly declare that our state's legitimate sovereign right to ensure the security of our southern border will be exercised in an even more resolute and daring manner."

The Foreign Ministry added, "Whether they clear landmines that have nothing to do with us or not is none of our business, and we have no reason whatsoever to play along with South Korea's farce," warning, "However, if those military boots or those sparks encroach upon our territory by even a single millimeter, Korea's border forces will immediately take powerful countermeasures."

It continued, "Even if similar incidents occur again on South Korean soil in the future, we make it clear that it will not be our responsibility, but entirely the responsibility of the side that suffered the accident," stating, "As previously declared, we will never, under any circumstances, discuss the exercise of military sovereignty within our territory with an adversary state, and we will defend our sovereign domain not through negotiation, but through the thorough exercise of force."

It further warned, "We reaffirm on this occasion that this is the official position of the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," adding, "South Korea's malicious attempt to achieve sinister goals through a childish, fabricated conspiracy will never succeed. In facing relations between the most hostile states, where even the slightest tolerance, concession, or oversight is forbidden, the exercise of sovereignty by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will be most resolute and unequivocal."

                                                                                                              Lee Han-sol