unification minister-land mine blast

▲ A captured screenshot from Unification Minister Chung Dong-young's Facebook page (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap) -- Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has said South Korea's response to the recent North Korean land mine explosion inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) should not undermine efforts to build peace on the Korean Peninsula.

In a Facebook post from Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Tuesday (local time), Chung said the government should conduct a "thorough investigation" and "truth finding" into the Sept. 21 DMZ blast caused by mines planted by the North and respond accordingly.

He said, however, those responses should not "be used as an excuse to belittle or distort our efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula."

"We should reflect on why this tragic event repeats and seek more fundamental answers," he added.

"In Northern Island, which has turned past tragedy into today's hope, I reaffirm my resolve to end the long-running war on the Korean Peninsula and build a lasting peace regime," he wrote.

The minister cut short his trip to Europe after a military investigation found North Korea responsible for last week's land mine explosion inside the DMZ that injured three South Korean soldiers.

He had been due to visit Northern Ireland, Ireland and Germany through Oct. 5 to study how those places resolved past conflicts and built peace but scrapped the Ireland and Germany legs.

The minister is set to return home later in the day to deal with the blast.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) blamed North Korea on Wednesday for the DMZ incident and called it a blatant violation of the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The South also demanded an apology from Pyongyang.

North Korea denied involvement in the mine blast, rejecting Seoul's announcement as a "groundless conspiracy."

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