Seoul:A parliamentary committee has passed a resolution led by the ruling Democratic Party (DP) to denounce North Korea for recent land mine explosions near the inter-Korean border that resulted in injuries to three South Korean soldiers.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the National Assembly's defense committee adopted the resolution, labeling the incident as a "provocation" that breached the Armistice Agreement, which ended the 1950-53 Korean War. The resolution also urged the government to provide necessary treatment and support for the injured soldiers and to work with the United Nations Command to present the incident's facts to the international community.

The main opposition, People Power Party (PPP), protested by walking out of the meeting when the resolution was put to a vote. With its approval by the defense committee, the resolution now advances to the assembly plenary session for further voting. The DP and the PPP had been debating for weeks over the resolution's content, particularly on whether to explicitly classify the blasts as a North Korean provocation.

In prior subcommittee discussions, the parties agreed to label the incident as a provocation, a stance long advocated by the PPP, which also agreed to exclude its demand for suspending humanitarian aid to the North. However, they could not resolve differences regarding the PPP's proposal for a parliamentary investigation into the military's delayed response to the explosions.

PPP Rep. Lim Jong-deuk criticized the decision, stating, "Refusing to include anything about investigating why the incident happened is like saying 'North Korea is at fault but we will stop at condemning the provocation."

The DP maintained that including allegations against the South Korean military in the resolution aimed at condemning the North would be contradictory. DP Rep. Park Sun-won emphasized that such allegations should not be part of the resolution. DP Rep. Min Hong-chul supported this view, suggesting that any allegations of negligence on the South Korean military's part should be addressed separately through a parliamentary audit or other means.