Lost mines cause injuries at beach

A series of mine explosion accidents at a beach on the Ganghwa Island region in Incheon has sounded an alarm to tourists visiting the island.

About 11:35 a.m. Oct. 2, tourist Lee Bok-Nam, 36, stepped on a mine, which resulted in the loss of his left foot at the ankle at a beach in the Seokmo-do beach of Seokmo-ri, Samsan-myeon Ganghwa-gun, Incheon. In an accident last month, fisherman Ahn Seung-Chul, 37, who came to fish at the tide pool about 600 meters away, stepped on a mine, resulting in the loss of his right foot, while his son received flesh wound to his right leg.

The police and the Marines have concluded that these men had stepped on mines, the M-14 used by the army. The Marines have asked the army base near by to confirm whether they had planted mines in the area.

However, having received a negative confirmation, the Marines have concluded that the two particular mines were part of the 329 M-14's that went missing in 1998 during the flooding of the Paju area in the North Gyeonggi region and they had been washed down the Han River.

Accordingly, the authorities held a counter-measure meeting, but because the M-14's are plastic mines, it is next to impossible to detect them with a mine detector. Currently, the Marines have ended their search for more mines and have put up warning signs in the area.

Park Joung-Gu jangkung@donga.com