Following Pyongyang's expression of regret over the land mine injuries in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the head delegate to the inter-Korean talks has again denied his country's involvement in the incident. 
 
Appearing on the North’s Korean Central Television on Tuesday, Director of the Korean People’s Army General Political Bureau Hwang Pyong-so said South Korean authorities prodded the North by cooking up a fictional event.
 
While calling the DMZ explosions a groundless incident, he claimed that the South had provoked the North in a unilateral manner.
 
He then stated that the South must have learned a serious lesson that such an act would only bring an armed clash, adding that it was fortunate that the North Korean delegation created a mood for improving bilateral ties with the South.
 
The mine explosions on the southern part of the DMZ on August 4 maimed two South Korean soldiers, sparking a serious military confrontation on the border.
 
At the high-level inter-Korean talks that lasted for over three days, the two Koreas reached an agreement to refrain from military action with the North expressing regret over the land mine incident.
 
The South Korean government interpreted the expression as a de-facto acknowledgement that the North had staged the provocation as well as an apology for the incident.