Yonhap news agency reported on Monday, citing a South Korean military official, that the South Korean military detected the planted mines on an unpaved road inside the DMZ in late 2023 near Arrowhead Hill in Cheorwon, located 85km northeast of Seoul. North Korea has reportedly laid mines on all roads between the two countries since late last year.

The road was built under a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement to connect the South and the North to excavate remains of those deceased during the Korean War that took place from 1950 to 1953, the report added.

Moreover, in January, North Korean troops allegedly installed mines on another two inter-Korean roads, including the Gyeongui road between South Korea’s western border city of Paju and the North’s Kaesong and the Donghae road along the east coast, the report also said.

The alleged land mining came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for a shutting down of the unification policy between the two Koreas and defining the bilateral relations as those between “two states hostile to each other,” the report said.