North Korea places anti-personnel mines along border

North Korea has planted anti-personnel mines along its border with South Korea to prevent soldiers from fleeing to the other side.

A landmark marking the military boundary between South Korea and North Korea - Photo: Stripes.

The Korea Herald newspaper quoted an anonymous South Korean official as saying today, June 14.

“Under the orders of leader Kim Jong Un, the North Korean military has deployed all measures to prevent its soldiers from crossing the North Korea-China border,” the unnamed official said.

Along with that, the deployment of anti-personnel mines in the area near the inter-Korean border seems to have the same purpose.

Last October, North and South Korea exchanged gunfire as North Korean troops approached the border between the two countries. No one was injured.

A month later, a North Korean patrol approached the border area again and the South Korean side fired warning shots.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency, citing another unnamed official, said the North Korean military appears to have been gathering military intelligence near the western, central and eastern border areas of the military demarcation line between the two countries over the past two months.

The official also said South Korea has stepped up defense activities to counter the risk of infiltration from the south.

Groups of North Korean soldiers (about 20 groups) are re-examining the military demarcation line markers between the two countries and rebuilding the ones that have fallen. There are nearly 1,300 such markers along the inter-Korean border, with the distance between each marker ranging from 200-300m.

(According to TTO)