Our top story this afternoon...<br />South Korea's defense ministry says North Korea was responsible for a landmine explosion at the heavily fortified demilitarized zone last week that seriously injured two South Korean soldiers..<br />For the details, we have Kim Hyun-bin standing by at the defense ministry in Seoul.<br />Hyun-bin?<br /><br /><br />Mark. The defense ministry said an hour and a half ago that North Korea was behind the mine blasts.<br />The ministry says that it recovered some debris from the mines after a thorough survey of the site,...<br />and they've concluded that the debris is from a PMD series mine.<br />This is identical to the kinds of landmines typically used by Pyongyang.<br />The Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned North Korea for its actions, calling it a violation of the armistice agreement,... and he emphasized that South Korea will make the North pay for its actions.<br />Let's hear what they have to say.<br /><br /><br />"These acts by Pyongyang violate the armistice agreement and the non-aggression pact. We urge North Korea to apologize for its provocations and punish those involved. As we have previously warned, we will make Pyongyang pay dearly for its provocations."<br /><br />The United Nations Command has also condemned North Korea for the incident and proposed a generals meeting with North Korea.<br />The explosions took place on the southern side of the DMZ near the city of Paju, Gyeonggi-do province, last Tuesday morning as the two sergeants were carrying out a regular scouting mission there.<br />The explosion nearly severed the soldiers' legs and they were rushed to a military hospital for treatment.<br />The heavily forested military buffer between the two Koreas is loaded with landmines and the military secures safe routes in the DMZ to conduct search operations there.<br />That's all I have for now. I'll have more updates in a later newscast.v<br />I'm Kim Hyun-bin, reporting live from the defense ministry.<br />Back to you, Mark.
