SEOUL — Seoul has fewer options for responding to North Korea’s involvement in a DMZ explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers after the Lee administration over the last year mothballed some of the tools used by previous administrations — including covert drone flights and the blaring loudspeakers that were aimed at the North for years.
The confrontation over a Sept. 21 landmine explosion that left three South Korean soldiers hurt escalated Wednesday, with new threats from North Korea and growing criticism in Seoul of the muted response from the administration of President Lee Jae-myung.
The Lee administration this week said the explosive device was consistent with prior North Korean designs and on Wednesday accused the North of breaching the 1953 Korean War armistice. Seoul demanded a halt to fortification work in the Demilitarized Zone.
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“We strongly demand an apology and responsible measures from the North,” said Lt. Gen. Kang Hyun-woo, operations director at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We make it explicitly clear that North Korea bears full responsibility for any future consequences that may arise.”
Also Wednesday, in a statement carried by North Korean state media, Kim Yo Jong, the high-profile sister of Kim Jong-un, called Seoul’s accusations “a conspiratorial farce being staged by the [South Korean] military gangsters.”
There was an immediate assumption that the Sept. 21 explosion was caused by a North Korean mine, but a period of quiet followed during the national three-day Harvest Thanksgiving, or Chuseok, holiday that ended Saturday.
After the holiday, South Korean authorities spoke daily as evidence mounted.
On Monday, the JCS made clear in a press briefing that the explosion was caused by a North Korean mine, citing crater shape, blast radius and fragments of plastic resin — a feature of North Korean mine casings.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul told the National Assembly that the mine had been deliberately buried, in a pattern with other mines.
That obviated the possibility of the mine being washed from north to south by a rainstorm, landslide or mudslide.
The question now is what — if anything — South Korea can do.
“If the final investigation concludes that the cause of the damage to our military was a landmine planted by North Korean forces … our military will take appropriate and corresponding measures,” JCS Vice Chairman General Kwon Dae-won said Monday.
Regardless of strong words from Gen. Kwon and Gen. Kang, experts say there are few measures that can be taken by South Korea against North Korea — which fields a conventional military double the size of Seoul’s forces, as well as nuclear arms.
A disturbing possibility for South Korea’s military lingers. Due to geographical and navigational complications, the DMZ explosion might — just might — have taken place in North Korean territory.
Pressure points are minimal. Seoul and Pyongyang have neither trade nor diplomatic relations. Moreover, Pyongyang is already heavily sanctioned by Seoul, and by most of the Global North.
While Seoul has put forward a range of packages it could supply if the North agrees to dialog, the North has rejected the many offers of talks put forward by Mr. Lee, who has long sought to engage Pyongyang.
It has similarly ignored entreaties by U.S. President Trump.
Given Chinese and especially Russian backing, all indications are that North Korea is currently sitting pretty — politically and economically.
That leaves military or hybrid operations.
“I don’t see any good options,” said Chun In-bum, a retired general who formerly commanded Seoul’s special forces.
“Options? We’re out of options,” agreed Yang Uk, a security specialist at Seoul’s Asan Institute, a think tank.
One tool previous administrations used, cross-border aural operations, is apparently off the table. The South’s military used mobile broadcasting equipment to blare messaging — including news reports and K-pop — over the DMZ.
However, Mr. Lee ordered the dismantling of that gear.
“The ruling party was really, really against it for quite a long time, so they turned them off and dismantled it,” said Mr. Yang. “I don’t know if, to use them again, they can be operational.”
There could be a public outcry if the equipment is de-mothballed. After the South halted its aural operations, the North stopped its own cross-border broadcasts, which included white noise and strange wailing and ghostly sounds. Border residents in South Korea welcomed the development.
Mr. Lee has prevented civilian activists — some of them North Korean defectors — from deploying balloons carrying anti-regime messaging over the DMZ.
His administration has also prosecuted generals who oversaw covert drone flights over Pyongyang in 2024.
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