South Korea blamed North Korea for landmine blasts that wounded two soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) last week, vowing to make the reclusive regime pay "a harsh price," Monday.
The Ministry of National Defense accused North Korean soldiers of planting three land mines inside the South Korean-controlled side of the DMZ, calling it "a cowardly act."
Defense Minister Han Min-koo ordered South Korean troops there to firmly respond to additional provocations.
Later in the day, the ministry said it resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasting from the border areas as the first step in retaliation. The measure came 11 years after the two Koreas agreed to suspend it in June, 2004.
This is part of a psychological warfare program, to which the North has reacted sensitively.
The U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) also blamed Pyongyang for the explosion. It said the provocation is a violation of the Armistice Agreement signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The UNC called for general-led dialog with the North Korean People's Army over the matter.
The latest provocation by the North came just weeks before a scheduled annual military exercise, Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), between South Korea and the United States.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/08/116_184553.html
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