Contaminated by: mines (extent unknown).

Recommendation for action

• The Republic of Korea (South Korea) should clear all antipersonnel mines from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as soon as possible.

Contamination

The Korean War left mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in southern Korea, and because of a security threat, South Korea laid barrier minefields along the DMZ separating it from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north (North Korea).

The DMZ and the Civilian Control Zone (CCZ), immediately adjoining the southern boundary of the DMZ, remain among the most heavily mined areas in the world due to extensive mine-laying during the Korean War and in the 1960s, in 1978, and in 1988. In 2006, South Korea indicated that about 970,000 mines were emplaced in the southern part of the DMZ, about 30,000 mines in the CCZ, and about 8,000 mines in 25 military sites that cover an area of about 3km² in the northern parts of Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon provinces, below the CCZ.[1] Previously, a report by the National Defense Committee in 2010 said that South Korea had about 1,100 “planned” mined areas covering 20km² and some 209 unconfirmed mined areas covering 97.82km².[2]

South Korea has also had to contend periodically with wooden box mines carried by flood water from North Korea during the rainy season. An incident was reported in July 2017, when a wooden mine was found and destroyed on a small island along the maritime border by the South Korean navy during a sweep for displaced box mines after heavy rains.[3] In June 2016, South Korean military officials reported that close to 260 North Korean wooden box mines had washed up along the border region in 2010–2015.[4]

In 2016, as in the previous year, South Korea reported serious allegations of new antipersonnel mine use by North Korea. (See the Mine Ban country profile for further details.)

Program Management

There is no national mine action authority or mine action center in South Korea. Demining is conducted by the South Korean army, which has undertaken limited clearance of the DMZ and CCZ, and has concentrated mostly on demining military bases in rear areas.

In 2013, the Ministry of Defense said it had submitted a bill on mines to the parliament to allow civilian organizations to remove mines laid during the Korean War, in order to facilitate ongoing military clearance. “The bill is aimed at making legal grounds and a process to allow both the military and civilians to remove mines so as to protect lives and the property of people,” the Ministry said in a press release.[5] As of September 2017, South Korea’s National Assembly had not passed the bill.

Land Release

In its latest Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Amended Protocol II Article 13 transparency report for calendar year 2016, South Korea reported that 362 military deminers had cleared a total of 191,019m² and destroyed 134 mines, at a cost of US$1.12 million.[6]

Previously, in 2015, South Korea reported clearing 62,471m² and removing “approx. 364 mines.”[7]

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the mine action research in 2017, including on survey and clearance, and shared all its resulting landmine and cluster munition reports with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.