Seoul seeks détente with Pyongyang after border bombings

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung promised to consistently look for practical ways to reduce military tensions in relations with the DPRK. The statement follows an escalation caused by the recent explosion of North Korean mines on the border of the two countries, according to the news agency “Yonhap”.

“The knots in inter-Korean relations are extremely complex, but we will steadily and patiently seek to untie them one by one,” the head of state said at a ceremony at the military headquarters in Kend on Armed Forces Day.

Last week, two mines allegedly planted by North Korean border guards exploded in the demilitarized zone on the border of the two countries for unspecified reasons. Three South Korean soldiers were wounded.

The DPRK authorities called the incident a provocation of its southern neighbors. “It is easy to determine the origin of a mine exploded in an abandoned land where they had not gone for more than half a century. The behavior of the Republic of Korea, trying to shift responsibility for the incident to another and invent “material evidence”, is an apogee of absurdity and defies any description, the influential party functionary Kim Yo-jong, who is the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said in a commentary published by KCNA.

Ernest Philippowski