An explosion injured three South Korean military officers Monday inside the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea, officials said.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the blast occurred during an unspecified operation near the military demarcation line, within the buffer zone commonly known as the DMZ.
The ministry said the cause of the explosion remained unclear.
Officials did not say whether a North Korean land mine may have caused the blast. North Korea has installed additional mines, anti-tank barriers and other defensive structures along the frontier in recent months as tensions between the two longtime adversaries have worsened.
According to the ministry, two of the injured officers were evacuated by helicopter. The third was taken from the area by ground before being flown out.
All three officers were receiving treatment at a military hospital near Seoul.
Stretching roughly 155 miles in length and 2.5 miles in width, the DMZ is among the most heavily armed borders in the world. An estimated 2 million land mines are scattered in and around the zone, which is also protected by barbed-wire fences, tank traps and troops from both countries.
The DMZ was created after the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty.
South Korea has grown increasingly concerned about activity by North Korean troops near the military demarcation line as Pyongyang expands its border defenses amid an extended period of hostility between the two countries.
The South Korean military has not officially confirmed media reports that North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line more than 20 times during frontline operations in August alone.
In April 2025, South Korean forces fired warning shots after about 10 North Korean soldiers crossed the military demarcation line in the eastern portion of the DMZ.
The North Korean troops withdrew after South Korea issued audio warnings and opened fire, and no fighting was reported. In June 2024, North Korean soldiers crossed the border on three separate occasions, prompting similar warning shots from the South.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has largely halted cooperation and diplomacy with Seoul in recent years. During a broader deadlock in nuclear negotiations with Washington, he has also labeled South Korea his country’s most hostile enemy.
In previous years, North Korean mines have occasionally been swept into South Korea by swollen rivers, killing or injuring civilians.
Land mine explosions in August 2015 maimed two South Korean soldiers and sharply increased tensions between the two Koreas.
