SOUTH KOREA-NORTH KOREA/MINES-PROTEST South Korean protesters denounce the North over land mine blast

Record ID: 144296

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA-NORTH KOREA/MINES-PROTEST South Korean protesters denounce the North over land mine blast
  • Date: 11th August 2015
  • Summary: PAJU, SOUTH KOREA (AUGUST 11, 2015) (REUTERS) ANTI-NORTH KOREAN PROTESTERS SETTING FIRE ON EFFIGY OF NORTH KOREAN LEADER KIM JONG UN PROTESTERS SETTING FIRE ON BANNER WITH PICTURES OF KIM, NORTH KOREAN FLAG AND SIGN READING (in Korean): "NORTH KOREA'S PROVOCATION! STRONG PUNISHMENT" PROTESTERS SPRAYING RED PAINT ON ANTI-NORTH KOREAN BANNERS VARIOUS OF EFFIGY BURNING ANTI-NORTH KOREAN BANNERS BURNING POLICE OFFICER EXTINGUISHING FIRE VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SLASHING NORTH KOREAN FLAG PROTESTERS RIPPING NORTH KOREAN FLAG VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN PROTEST LEADER PARK CHAN-SUNG SAYING: "An accident that our two soldiers lost their legs occurred. Our people along with the United Nations and the international society strongly condemn (North Korea) and urge a stern punishment." VARIOUS OF PROTESTS CHANTING PROTESTERS HOLDING UP BANNERS WITH NORTH KOREAN FLAG AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF KIM JONG UN ON THEM MORE OF PROTESTERS CHANTING
  • Embargoed: 26th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAS8A6J3BLE3IVNL796XLEA0NZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South Korean protesters rallied against North Korea on Tuesday (August 11) after two South Korean soldiers were wounded by a land mine explosion at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
    About 200 protesters including North Korean defectors gathered at the Imjingak pavilion near the DMZ and burned an effigy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. They also slashed a North Korea flag.
    "An accident that our two soldiers lost their legs occurred. Our people along with the United Nations and the international society strongly condemn (North Korea) and urge a stern punishment," protest leader Park Chan-sung said.
    The two soldiers were part of a team conducting a routine search operation inside the heavily fortified DMZ near the town of Paju, about 50 km (30 miles) north of Seoul.
    South Korea's military on Monday (August 10) accused North Korea of planting land mines inside the Demilitarised Zone border that exploded on August 4, calling it a cowardly act of provocation, and threatened retaliation.
    There was evidence to conclude the North's soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line recently to plant the mines, and Pyongyang will be made to "pay a severe price," the South's military said in a news briefing without elaborating.
    Fragments from the exploded mine also had paint typically used by the North, it said.
    North and South Korea are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce without a peace treaty.
    The DMZ is a 4-km (2.5-mile) wide buffer fortified with landmines and barbed wire stretching across the Korean peninsula, with more than a million soldiers and heavy military equipment deployed on both sides.
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