SAEDNEWS: North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile as Tensions Rise After DMZ Blast
According to Saednews, Pyongyang denied responsibility for last month’s explosion inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and called South Korea “despicable” on Friday, undermining overtures from Seoul’s civilian leadership seeking to restore dialogue.
Early Saturday, “our military detected a ballistic missile launched from the Wonsan area of North Korea toward the East Sea,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
“South Korea, the US, and Japan are maintaining a robust defense posture through close information sharing regarding North Korean ballistic missiles,” it said, adding that the missile traveled more than 700 kilometers (435 miles).
Seoul and the US-led United Nations Command determined that last month’s explosion inside the DMZ — the heavily mined buffer zone that has separated the two Koreas since their 1953 armistice — was caused by North Korean mines laid on the South Korean side of the border.
North Korea’s military has been laying mines and constructing anti-tank barriers along the frontier as part of efforts to permanently seal it off, following leader Kim Jong Un’s designation of South Korea as his country’s “principal enemy” in 2024.
According to South Korea’s Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul, the mines responsible for the blast, which injured three soldiers, were believed to have been laid as part of Pyongyang’s border fortification efforts.
South Korea’s dovish President Lee Jae Myung urged Pyongyang on Thursday to return to dialogue, despite his military demanding an apology from North Korea a day earlier.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, responded on Friday by calling Seoul “really despicable” and once again denying that Pyongyang was responsible for the blasts.
She ridiculed Lee’s latest overture, describing it as “the climax of the farce that everyone should watch,” and said the military’s demand for an apology was “quite ridiculous.”
Kim also warned that Pyongyang was “ready for anything” Seoul might do over the mine blast. Her remarks were followed the next morning by North Korea’s ballistic missile launch.
Analysts said the launch would be viewed as a show of force in response to the South Korean government’s diplomatic efforts, effectively rejecting Seoul’s attempt at engagement.
“Seoul called for easing tensions, but Pyongyang answered by escalating them,” Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
“The message is that the North is pursuing... confrontation in response to goodwill,” he added.
South Korea’s defense minister said on Tuesday that the military had “a range of necessary measures at our disposal, and we will implement them in stages” in response to the DMZ incident, without providing further details.
South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young also proposed talks with Pyongyang on Friday to address issues along the border.
Kim Yo Jong, however, dismissed Chung’s proposal for talks as a “wild dream and unilateral jargon.”
The latest escalation comes at a sensitive time, as recent overtures by US President Donald Trump toward Pyongyang have raised concerns that Seoul, a US ally, could be sidelined in potential nuclear negotiations involving North Korea.
South Korea’s opposition People Power Party accused Lee on Friday of failing to criticize Pyongyang when warranted, even as he has taken a hard line on Ukraine for publicly disclosing the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war — an arrangement Seoul believed should have remained confidential.
“South Korean soldiers have been injured, and far from receiving an apology, we have been mocked by North Korea,” the opposition party said in a statement.
“We fail to see how selectively turning a blind eye to North Korea serves South Korea’s dignity or the safety of its people.”
