Two Storm Corps soldiers deployed on the Sino-North Korean border in North Hamgyong Province were severely injured recently after stepping on a landmine, Daily NK has learned.
A source in the province told Daily NK on Friday that the two Storm Corps soldiers were “conducting a night patrol” on Mar. 10 in the Sino-North Korean border region of Chongsong County when they “stepped on a landmine at [around] 1 AM.”
According to the source, the two soldiers spotted around five flashes of light on the Tumen River’s banks. They approached the river without reporting to their superiors because they believed smugglers or defectors were involved in some kind of signal exchange. The two soldiers were unaware that they were running into an area with landmines buried underground.
The two were rushed to a hospital in North Hamgyong Province shortly after the accident before being transferred to Military Hospital No. 11 for treatment. One soldier reportedly lost their sight, while the other lost their arms and legs.
“On the day [of the incident], the military immediately mobilized patrols to thoroughly inspect the surrounding areas,” the source said. “They didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, so they concluded that the flashing lights were caused by people passing by on the Chinese side [of the river] and closed the case.”
Afterward, the military identified three causes for the incident. First, the soldiers involved in the incident neglected to educate themselves about the geographic features and locations of landmines in the area.
Soldiers serving along the Chongsong County border area have long received education about where landmines are buried. The military criticized the soldiers because they approached an area with mines without realizing it, which indicated that they had not been paying attention during the educational sessions, the source said.
A second cause for the accident was the fact that the soldiers neglected to report the situation to their superiors so they could receive orders or instructions before moving into the area with mines. The pair’s failure to cooperate with other border patrol officers on duty also contributed to the incident, according to the source.
The military will also hold the soldiers’ company commander and political guidance officers responsible for the incident, the source said. The military leadership claims that there were problems not only with the soldiers’ careless behavior but also with the senior officials who failed to manage the situation properly.
*Translated by S & J
