North Korea has laid about 960,000 land mines in and around the Demilitarized Zone over the past two years or so, according to South Korea's military. The figure amounts to nearly half of the total estimated number of mines buried in the DMZ.
The military told the National Assembly that North Korea is estimated to have laid a total of 960,000 mines in the DMZ area since 2024, according to lawmakers' offices on the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee and National Defense Committee on the 23rd.
Military experts estimate the total number of mines inside the DMZ at about 2 million, including those laid by South Korean forces. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young also said at a parliamentary audit on Oct. 7 that mines in the DMZ number about 2 million.
The large-scale mine-laying is seen as part of North Korea's border fortification work, pursued after it defined inter-Korean relations as those between "two hostile states." Since April 2024, North Korea has been laying mines, building barriers, installing barbed wire and constructing tactical roads along the Military Demarcation Line.
Military tensions have been rising as North Korean troops repeatedly cross the MDL during the work. On Sept. 21, a mine believed to have been laid by North Korean forces exploded south of the MDL, wounding a South Korean soldier. South Korea's military has responded to the MDL crossings with warning broadcasts and warning shots.
In response, Kim Yo-jong, director of the general affairs department of North Korea's Workers' Party, issued a statement on Oct. 21 describing the South Korean military's actions as a "provocation" and threatened to operate loudspeakers aimed at the South along the entire border within the month. On the 22nd, she repeated the warning, saying, "We are not 'provoking' but making a legitimate response," and that "our new countermeasures along the entire border will enter a state of mission readiness, and the loudspeakers aimed at South Korea will also go on standby within days."
The Ministry of National Defense said its actions were legitimate defensive measures taken in response to North Korean troops crossing the MDL, and that it would respond firmly to any further provocations.