00:00Actually, all our lost storm clouds trigger sensors.
00:02In the Army's 25th Division on September 21,
00:04two of our soldiers were seriously injured in a landmine explosion,
00:06resulting in a total of three casualties.
00:08The injured soldiers were rushed to the Armed Forces Capital Hospital.
00:10A military official stated that serious casualties occurred
00:12during an operation in the DMZ by the Army's 25th Division.
00:15As of now, it has not been confirmed whether the detonated mine was planted
00:17by the North Korean military or laid by our own forces in the past.
00:20It is worth noting that this incident occurred in the DMZ.
00:23The DMZ is an area where both the South and the North agreed to pull their troops back
00:26two kilometers each from the MDL, the Military Demarcation Line.
00:29However, the work that the North Korean military is currently carrying out
00:32in the northern area of the DMZ is also complicating the situation even further.
00:35Ever since the Kim Jong-un regime defined inter-Korean relations
00:37as those between two hostile states,
00:38the North Korean military has continued operations along the MDL,
00:41including laying landmines, installing barbed wire fences,
00:42clearing land, reinforcing tactical roads, and building barriers.
00:45This has been interpreted as North Korea's move to manage the MDL area
00:47as a de facto national border.
00:49Indeed, the North Korean military has mobilized large workforces across the DMZ
00:52to carry out these operations.
00:54The problem is that during this process,
00:55instances of North Korean soldiers crossing the MDL have been recurring.
00:58Over the past month,
00:59North Korean troops have reportedly crossed the MDL about 20 times,
01:02which already exceeds the 17 occurrences recorded in all of last year.
01:05North Korean soldiers have crossed the MDL while clearing vegetation
01:07or carrying out various construction tasks in the DMZ,
01:09and our military has responded with warning broadcasts and warning shots.
01:12In particular,
01:13it is known that in parts of the DMZ,
01:15the MDL markers are not clearly visible due to the terrain and thick brush.
01:18There have been instances where North Korean soldiers approached or crossed the MDL
01:21while laying landmines or clearing brush to secure visibility.
01:24From our military's perspective,
01:25we must maintain vigilance and carry out operations
01:27in a situation where both North Korean activities
01:29and landmine threats exist at the same time.
01:31As for this 25th Division accident,
01:32we cannot prematurely conclude that North Korea was behind it
01:34until the exact type of mine and who laid it are confirmed.
01:37However,
01:37the very fact that our soldiers were injured by a landmine explosion
01:40during an operation in the DMZ
01:41clearly illustrates the perilous conditions that currently exist
01:43throughout the demilitarized zone.
01:45Going forward,
01:45it will be necessary for military authorities to conduct an on-site investigation
01:48to verify what type of mine it was,
01:49as well as when and under what circumstances it was planted.
01:51to verify what type of mine it was planted in the building
01:52it will be necessary for military authorities to not az technically
01:52You know,
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