Kwon Dae-won
Role at the time: Vice chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking at a press briefing at the Ministry of National Defense
Response to this claim
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on September 28, 2026 that North Korean land mines were highly likely the cause of the two explosions that wounded three South Korean soldiers south of the Military Demarcation Line on September 21, and said on September 30 that South Korean soldiers were seriously injured by North Korean landmines while conducting search operations south of that line.
“If the final investigation confirms that this was inflicted by land mines laid by North Korean forces, it constitutes a clear attack in which our soldiers, who were lawfully performing DMZ operations south of the MDL, were injured by North Korean mines and consequently, accountability rests entirely with North Korea”
Korea Herald's copy of a Yonhap report on the September 28, 2026 briefing by Lt. Gen. Kwon Dae-won, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the preliminary results of the joint investigation with the UN Command. The English quotations are Yonhap's rendering of Kwon's Korean remarks.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The case asks whether North Korean forces planted the mines. Kwon said the evidence made North Korean mines highly likely the cause, but he tied North Korea's accountability to the final investigation confirming that North Korean forces laid them. Because the attribution depends on an express, unresolved condition, we labeled it Mixed or conditional rather than Condemned.