Defense Minister Visits Wounded Soldiers After Suspected Land Mine Blast in DMZ

SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul visited a military hospital Wednesday to console two Army soldiers injured in a suspected land mine explosion inside the inter-Korean border, the defense ministry said.

The minister met with the wounded officers and their families at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, following Monday's blast that severed the ankle of a battalion commander and fractured the ankle of a noncommissioned officer.

Expressing his deep sympathies, Kang praised the soldiers as "true heroes" who put themselves in harm's way to protect their fellow service members, and promised the government's full support for their medical treatment and recovery, the ministry said.

The victims -- a lieutenant colonel and a sergeant first class of the 25th Infantry Division -- were caught in the blast south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.

They were clearing a path for a U.N. Command inspection on North Korea's border-hardening measures, such as mine-laying and fencing, which was set to begin early next week.

While an investigation is under way to determine the exact cause of the blast, speculation is growing that land mines illegally planted by North Korean troops on the South's side of the DMZ may be to blame.

Kang, who officially took office Tuesday, vowed a thorough investigation into the explosion, asserting that the military will not shy away from responding to North Korean provocations.