South Korean soldiers continued Tuesday to search for North Korean land mines apparently swept here from the North by heavy rains, military officials said.
The widening search operation that has examined riverbanks and islands near the western border with North Korea since Friday has found a total of
41 land mines built in wooden boxes, according to officials at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Twenty-seven wooden boxes that were empty also have been discovered so far.
More than 1,000 soldiers took part in Tuesday's search, inspecting 76 sites along rivers and beaches on islands near the border with the North,
said Col. Lee Bung-woo, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Military officials have ruled out the possibility that the North deliberately sent the mines.
"Although we couldn't confirm the possibility, the military has figured out that the mines were apparently washed here from North Korea after heavy
rains," Lee told reporters.
On Saturday night, a 48-year-old man died instantly when one of two land mines in wooden boxes he had picked up from a river went off in the border town of Yeoncheon, about 60 kilometers northeast of Seoul. His 25-year-old nephew, who is in stable condition, was seriously injured.
Torrential rains had been reported north of the border in recent weeks, prompting the North to discharge dam water into rivers flowing to the South.
The two Koreas, which remain technically at war, are divided by the heavily armed border strewn with mines.