Landmines Still Buried Across the Country

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Although the military authorities have been removing landmines buried over the past 23 years, it has been revealed that landmines are still scattered throughout the country.

The area with the highest concentration of landmines on the Korean Peninsula is the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). During the Korean War, the United Nations forces, Chinese People's Volunteer Army, and North Korean forces competitively installed landmines along the front lines from the Imjin River to the East Coast. Even after the armistice agreement was signed in 1953, both South and North Korea planted numerous landmines in the DMZ. These were intended to block enemy attacks in case of emergency, but also to prevent friendly forces from crossing into enemy territory.

Landmines still buried are scattered nationwide. As of the end of last year, there are 35 minefields (27,000㎡) in rear areas, with an estimated 3,000 landmines planted. The military authorities estimate that 664 mines are buried in Yangsan-si, Gyeongnam, and 343 mines in Pohang-si, Gyeongnam. Following these are estimated 190 mines in Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, 181 mines in Paju-si, and 114 mines in Gapyeong-gun.

The types and quantities of remaining landmines vary according to wartime operational plans. The M-14 anti-personnel mine is a plastic-made weapon that can take off an ankle when stepped on. The M-16 anti-personnel mine has strong destructive power and can kill people around the person who steps on it. North Korea is known to have installed wooden box mines (PMD-57) and BBM-82 mines as anti-personnel mines, and metal anti-tank mines (ATM-72) and wooden box anti-tank mines (TMD-B) as anti-tank mines.

Since 2015, North Korea is reported to have doubled the amount of landmines planted in the DMZ compared to previous years. It is said that more than 4,000 landmines have been planted in various parts of the DMZ. About 70% of these are known to be wooden box mines. The "Mokham mine" is an anti-personnel mine made of pine wood. In the forward areas, wooden box mines washed away during the monsoon season have occasionally been found. North Korea's wooden box mine is a wooden box measuring 20cm wide, 9cm long, and 4.5cm high, containing 200g of explosives and a detonator. It is designed to explode if the box is opened or a certain amount of pressure is applied, with a lethal radius known to be within 2 meters.

Civilians have sometimes been injured by North Korean mines carried away by floods. In 2017, a wooden box mine was found on Achado Island, Ganghwa-gun, Incheon. In July 2010, a resident named Han (50), who was illegally fishing inside the civilian access control line in Jangnam-myeon, Yeoncheon-gun, Gyeonggi-do, near the Imjin River tributary Sami Stream, picked up two wooden box mines and was carrying them out when one exploded, killing him on the spot.

According to a 2013 review report by the National Assembly Defense Committee, it was estimated that it would take about 469 years to remove all the landmines buried domestically based on the military's current landmine removal capabilities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.