The South Korean military deployed fighter jets and fired dozens of shots after several North Korean drones entered the country’s airspace on Monday, officials said.
“Our military this morning tracked unidentified objects in Gyeonggi Province believed to be North Korean drones,” Maj. Gen. Lee Seung-O, director of operations at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a news conference. “This is a clear act of provocation by the North violating our airspace.”
South Korea tracked five drones crossing from North Korea over what is known as the Military Demarcation Line, a land border or demarcation line between the two countries, the military said. The border intrusion was first noticed at around 10:25 a.m. local time near the northwestern city of Gimpo.
“Our military deployed manned and unmanned reconnaissance assets to areas close to the Military Demarcation Line as well as North Korea to take corresponding measures in response to North Korean drones that violated our airspace,” Seung-O said.
“We conducted reconnaissance and operational activities such as photographing major military facilities of the enemy,” he added. “Our military will continue to respond thoroughly and sternly to such provocations by North Korea.”
The incursion prompted South Korea’s military to fire roughly 100 rounds, Yonhap news agency reported, which also noted that no drone was downed.
The incident also led the country’s transport ministry to temporarily suspend flights leaving from two airports following a request from the military.
According to an Al Jazeera reporter on scene in the South Korean capital, the drones appeared to have been “flying for several hours” and “choppers and fighter jets were deployed in response, including a KA-1 light attack aircraft,” the publication reported.
Officials later said the KA-1 plane crashed during takeoff but its two pilots both ejected safely. Both pilots were hospitalized for treatment of unspecified injuries.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told news agency AFP that the drones were likely sent for spying purposes.
“It is speculated that they came over to our area as part of reconnaissance training during the recent winter training,” Moo-jin told the network.
It’s the first time in five years that a North Korean drone crossed the Military Demarcation Line and violated South Korea’s airspace.
In 2017, a suspected North Korean drone had taken photographs of an advanced U.S. anti-missile battery stationed in South Korea before it crashed while apparently on its way back home, officials said at the time.
That drone, mounted with a camera, was found in June 2017 in a forest near the border with North Korea. It was similar in size and shape to a North Korean drone found in 2014 on an island near the border.
Relations between the two countries have recently been growing tenser since a new government took over in Seoul and as North Korea presses on with its nuclear and missile programs.
The airspace violation comes just days after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters. The Dec. 23 test was the latest weapon demonstration since U.S. and South Korean warplanes conducted joint drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
North Korea has conducted an unprecedented number of missile tests this year in what some experts call an attempt to bolster its weapons capability and pressure its rivals to make concessions such as sanctions relief in future negotiations. Recently, the North also claimed to have performed major tests needed to acquire its first spy satellite and a more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching U.S.-grounds.
South Korea’s military called the launches “a grave provocation” that hurts international peace. It said South Korea will maintain a firm readiness and closely monitor North Korean moves in coordination with the United States.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
