During a speech Thursday marking National Armed Forces Day, President Lee Jae Myung called the Sept. 21 mine blast that injured three soldiers near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) an "unfortunate accident." He did not venture into the terrain of what the initial joint investigation done by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the United Nations Command uncovered about the blast. The investigation determined that the three mines came from North Korea, and called the mine blast a violation of the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement. The final details of the investigation into the incident are expected early next week, and so the Lee administration's seeming exercise of prudence in condemning North Korea may well have been the order of the day. However, the president's categorization of the mine blast as an "unfortunate accident" did not land well — especially to the men serving in the infantry involved, as well as their families — so much so that the presidential spokesperson was later compelled to clarify that Lee's comments were meant to comfort the injured military officers. While the president h