Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Tuesday that South Korea will make every effort to hold North Korea accountable for planting land mines south of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) while preventing the incident from escalating into broader military tensions. The issue was raised during a parliamentary audit of the foreign ministry, following the South Korean military’s conclusion that North Korean troops had planted land mines south of the MDL in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The South Korean military concluded Monday that North Korean troops had planted the mines that exploded Sept. 21 and seriously injured South Korean soldiers. The U.N. Command (UNC) determined that placing the mines violated the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement. Cho said holding North Korea accountable and preventing an unnecessary escalation of tensions should go hand in hand. He described the two objectives as “two sides of the same coin,” saying the government would continue efforts on both fronts. Cho also backed the need for the two Koreas and the UNC to jointly manage MDL markers, saying Seoul has been disc