Park Seon-won, "Yu Yong-won visited the 25th company before the North Korean landmine exploitation operation"...庾 "Deterrent offensive"

Park claims 'change of operational unit from 21st to 25th division'... Yoo Yong-won “I received a report from the point scheduled for investigation”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Kim Nam-kwon, Kim Yeon-jeong, and Jeong Yeon-sol = Regarding the North Korean landmine explosion incident that occurred in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the 19th, Rep. Park Seon-won of the Democratic Party of Korea raised suspicions about the involvement of Rep. Yoo Yong-won of the People's Power Party, saying, "There is something very unclear about the decision-making process for the (search route development) operation."

Rep. Yoo refuted this, saying, “Representative Park is making a political attack with unreasonable claims.”

At the Supreme Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on this day, Rep. Park, the highest member of the Democratic Party, urged, "We must hold accountable who and why should have made the decision to send our soldiers to that dangerous place and carry out an unreasonable and imprudent operation."

Supreme Commissioner Park claims that on August 31, when the 25th Division commander volunteered to take on the investigation mission, the operational unit was changed from the 21st Division, which was originally mentioned, to the 25th Division, and Rep. Yoo's visit to the 25th Division was scheduled before that.

Rep. Park pointed out, “On August 28, Rep. Yoo visited the 25th Division and had a conversation with the division commander,” and added, “In a question to the government of the National Assembly on September 10, Rep. Yoo disclosed that the North Korean military minefield in the 25th Division area is 15 meters south of the Military Demarcation Line.”

He then claimed, "On September 21st, while pioneering a road to investigate the very dangerous area, our soldier came into contact with a landmine 10 meters south of the Military Demarcation Line," and added, "The accident occurred after entering that spot at the exact time the 25th Division Commander reported to Rep. Yoo."

Rep. Park said, “The 25th Division commander pushed it in knowing it was a minefield. Rep. Yoo’s visit to the 25th Division, the 25th Division commander’s request for an investigation, the disclosure of the minefield at the National Assembly, and the explosion caused by the soldiers’ contact with the minefield. We need to find out how these series of processes were connected,” he said, demanding an investigation by the military authorities.

Regarding this, Rep. Yoo explained in his statement, "I did not push the soldiers to the point that the division commander reported to me, but I was briefed on the point that was already scheduled for investigation. Based on this report, I urged the Prime Minister and the Vice Minister of National Defense to quickly prepare measures for the government in a question to the government on the 10th of last month."

He went on to point out, “The circumstances surrounding the change in the unit subject to investigation, as claimed by Rep. Park, must be confirmed through instructions and reports from the command chain and UNC consultation records,” and added, “Listing the date of the visit and the date of the accident does not prove the causal relationship.”

Rep. Yoo criticized, “It is too strong-minded to connect legislative activities as if they were the cause of the accident while ignoring the circumstances of the report,” and added, “Attacking the military and the opposition party with incoherent logic can be said to be a model of political offensive.”

He said, "Furthermore, the military already identified the possibility of landmines in the area on September 23, 2025, and reported it to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Minister of National Defense the following day. It was a risk that the military leadership was aware of long before my visit," and asked Rep. Park, "Is it wrong for me, as a member of the National Assembly Defense Committee, to inform the public of the risk and urge the government to take action?"

On the 5th, the military announced the final results of its conclusion that the injury to our soldier in the explosion that occurred in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the Western Front on the 21st of last month was caused by a land mine planted by North Korea south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).

At the time, our troops were conducting a new search route development operation within the DMZ to prepare for a UNC field investigation of suspected mine-laying areas south of North Korea's MDL.