Many people complain about wearing mask outdoors, imagine having to wear an entire hazmat suit:
South Korean soldiers stationed on the southern side of the Joint Security Area on Feb. 7, 2023. Korea Times photo by Jack Lau
North Korean troops have become somewhat of a rare sight. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, North Korean soldiers have avoided showing themselves in public to ward off the disease, at the cost of suspending in-person talks with the U.N. Command about upholding the armistice.
“They no longer meet with us face to face,” said Lt. Col. Griff Hofman of the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission behind the sky-blue conference huts at the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom managed by the commission.
“It’s all done via the hotline, and they generally stay in Panmungak,” he said, referring to the main building on the North Korean side of the area that is also known as the Phanmun Pavilion. “If North Korean troops needed to go outdoors, they wore hazmat suits.”
Guards at truce village South Korean soldiers are on guard on the southern side of the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in Paju, 30 kilometers north of Seoul, on Feb. 7, 2023. (Yonhap)
5 students from DSD, Daeseong-dong, Elementary School have celebrated their graduation, surrounded by friends, family & senior mil officers. #DSD is the only residential area within the southern section of #DMZ, it's counterpart village in #NK, Kijong-dong is only 1.6 km away. pic.twitter.com/hLeP9yFN4c
— United Nations Command 유엔군사령부/유엔사 (@UN_Command) January 3, 2023
A critical prerequisite for activities in the #DMZ is demining. There are upwards of 2 million mines and explosive remnants in the southern half of the #DMZ alone, several of which have being discovered frequently at the #WhiteHorseHill operation sites. pic.twitter.com/LerONIrhhO
— United Nations Command 유엔군사령부/유엔사 (@UN_Command) July 13, 2022
I would not be surprised if this is an old landmine that may have been washed out of the ground by rain:
In this file photo provided by the Army’s I Corps, taken May 8, 2020, a service member puts up a warning sign at a civilian access control line.
A South Korean soldier in a frontline Army unit was wounded due to an unidentified explosion during a border defense mission earlier this week, officials said Wednesday.
The blast occurred Tuesday when the soldier was conducting a land clearing operation to ensure visibility near a general outpost of the Army’s First Corps that lies just south of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.
He is currently receiving treatment for an injury to his toes, the officials said.
The military authorities are trying to ascertain the exact cause of the explosion, including the possibility of a stray landmine blast.
