(ATTN: ADDS ministry's meeting with foreign diplomats in last 6 paras)
By Oh Seok-min
SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to send a letter to the president of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) calling on North Korea to apologize for last month's land mine blast and take responsibility for its violation of the Korean War Armistice Agreement, the foreign ministry said Thursday.
The South Korean military concluded the Sept. 21 blasts in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) were caused by North Korean mines planted south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). The incidents injured three South Korean soldiers, two of them seriously.
"The letter will explain that the blast was caused by land mines planted by North Korean troops in violation of the Armistice Agreement, demand an apology and responsible action from Pyongyang, and call for dialogue to prevent further escalation and restore trust," ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon said during a regular press briefing.
The letter will also seek to "draw attention to Pyongyang's recent attempts to characterize South Korean troops' legitimate military activities along the MDL as provocations and shift responsibility for rising tensions onto South Korea," Park added.
The letter, to be sent under the name of South Korea's ambassador to the U.N., is expected to be sent Thursday (New York time), he said.
Such letters are typically circulated to Security Council members within several days of being received by the council president and subsequently posted on the UNSC website.
North Korea has denied responsibility for the incident and warned of retaliation if South Korea takes corresponding action.
President Lee Jae Myung addresses the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters, in this file photo from Sept. 22, 2026. (Yonhap)
The government will coordinate with Greece, which holds the rotating presidency of the UNSC, "to ensure the letter is circulated to council members as soon as possible after it is sent," a senior ministry official told reporters.
During a parliamentary audit earlier this month, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Seoul was reviewing "various diplomatic responses" to the mine blast while seeking to prevent unnecessary escalation.
Cho outlined four possible options for Seoul's response at the UNSC: sending a letter to the council president, seeking a presidential statement expressing the council's position on the incident, pursuing a UNSC resolution or taking no action at the council level.
When asked about possible additional measures, the ministry official said the government has not ruled out unilateral sanctions if North Korea does not respond to the letter.
"Seoul will consider their effectiveness and practical benefits before deciding on further steps," he added.
Maj. Gen. Yang Jin-hyuk, director of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff operations planning division, attends a press conference at the defense ministry headquarters in Seoul, in this file photo from Sept. 28, 2026, to announce the interim results of a military investigation with the U.N. Command into mine explosions inside the Demilitarized Zone on Sept. 21 that left two South Korean soldiers severely injured and another with minor injuries. (Yonhap)
Meanwhile, the foreign ministry said it held a briefing on the situation on the Korean Peninsula with diplomats from the Korea Club and the Peace Club on Thursday.
The Korea Club is a consultative body comprising 20 foreign missions in Seoul that are concurrently accredited to both South and North Korea, while the Peace Club consists of 20 Seoul-based missions of countries that maintain resident embassies in North Korea.
The meeting drew around 40 participants, including ambassadors and other diplomats from 15 countries -- Greece, New Zealand, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Slovakia, Ireland, Austria, Egypt, India, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Poland and Finland -- as well as representatives of the European Union.
Jeong Yeon-doo, vice foreign minister for diplomatic strategy and intelligence and Seoul's chief nuclear envoy, outlined the government's efforts to promote peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas and ease tensions on the peninsula.
Jeong also briefed the diplomats on the findings of the on-site investigation into the land mine explosion, stressing the importance of inter-Korean communication to prevent similar incidents and accidental clashes.
The diplomats shared the view that dialogue and communication between the two Koreas are necessary to ease tensions and praised Seoul's efforts to achieve peaceful coexistence on the peninsula, the ministry said.
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