News Asia
South Korean Military Fires Warning Shots After N.Korea Launches Drones
(CTN NEWS) – On Monday, after North Korean drones breached its airspace for the first time in five years, South Korea’s military fired warning shots and scrambled fighter jets.
And flew monitoring assets across the strongly guarded border with North Korea, according to officials.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, five drones from North Korea were discovered crossing the border, one of which made it as far north as the capital region.
Before sending out fighter jets and attack helicopters to knock down the North Korean drones, the military fired warning shots as a response.
– A suspected North Korean drone is viewed at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, on June 21, 2017. South Korea said Monday, Dec. 26, 2022; it fired warning shots after North Korean drones violated the South’s airspace. (Lee Jung-hoon/Yonhap via AP, File)
According to the Defense Ministry, one of the planes, a KA-1 light attack plane, crashed after takeoff, but both of its two pilots managed to eject to safety.
If the drones were shot down, it wasn’t immediately known.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says several unmanned North Korean drones crossed the inter-Korean border and were detected in the South’s territory on Monday (Dec.26).#drone #SouthKorea #NorthKorea #icr360 #NewsUpdate pic.twitter.com/afkDZt3MW3
— International Crisis Room 360 (@ICR360) December 26, 2022
According to the Joint Chiefs, South Korea launched surveillance assets close to and across the border to photograph important military structures in North Korea as a retaliatory action against the North Korean drone flights.
Although it gave no further details, several experts believe South Korea probably used unmanned drones to fly over North Korean territory.
A North Korean flag flutters in the wind atop a 160-meter tower in North Korea’s village Gijungdongseen, as seen from the Taesungdong freedom village inside the demilitarized zone in Paju, South Korea, on April 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
It is exceedingly unusual for South Korea to publicly admit any surveillance operations inside of North Korea.
And this likely signifies the conservative administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s determination to respond harshly to North Korean provocations.
Since a suspected North Korean drone was discovered crashed in South Korea in 2017, North Korean drones had not before entered South Korean airspace.
At the time, South Korean military officials claimed that the drone had captured images of an American missile defense system there.
Previously, North Korea made much of its drone program, and according to South Korean officials, the North had roughly 300 drones.
Several drones believed to be from North Korea were discovered there in 2014. Despite being low-tech, experts claimed they could pose a security risk.
This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is a rocket test with the test satellite at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in North Korea Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles last Friday at its eastern waters.
The launch was a protest against joint air exercises between South Korea and the US, which North Korea perceives as a practice invasion.
In what some experts believe to be an effort to upgrade its weaponry and persuade competitors to make concessions like relaxing sanctions in future negotiations, North Korea has conducted an unprecedented number of missile tests this year.
The North recently asserted that it had carried out crucial tests for its first spy satellite and a more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile that might reach the U.S. mainland.
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