ROK media reported last week that North Korea has been installing landmines along major roads connecting to the South since last year, raising concerns about heightened border tensions since the collapse of an inter-Korean military deal.

For 69-year-old Kim Ki-ho, such reports in recent months have rekindled painful memories of the devastation that landmines can wreak.

A former anti-espionage officer who served in the military for three decades, Kim watched a landmine explode in front of his own eyes in June 2000, a traumatic event resulting in two of his colleagues losing both of their legs. 

“That tragedy changed my