South Korea’s military confirmed on Thursday that a North Korean drone had breached a no-fly zone around the president’s office in a rare attack last month that it had previously denied.
Military tensions on the Korean peninsula rose sharply last year as North Korea conducted almost monthly tests of sanctioned weapons, including the firing of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile.
Pyongyang then sent five drones across the border into South Korean airspace on December 26, the first such incident in five years, prompting Seoul to seize jets in response.
Drones ‘too small’
South Korea’s military has apologized after failing to shoot down a drone, despite a five-hour operation, which it blamed on the drone being “too small”.
He also repeatedly denied reports that the drone had infiltrated the no-fly zone, known as the P-73, which includes the sky over the South Korean presidential office.
“It is not true that (the North Korean drone) did not pass through Yongsan,” Lee Sung-jun, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday, referring to the area where the presidential office and the defense ministry are located.
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Military officials said an investigation found that “traces of small enemy drones” had passed through the northern end of the no-fly zone.
“We made it clear that there is no problem with the security of the Yongsan office,” the official said.
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– North Korean drones ‘disturbing’ –
South Korea’s military said last week the North was “unable to obtain useful information” with drone strikes because of what it described as Pyongyang’s low level of technology.
But Seoul’s spy agency told lawmakers it was “possible” that a North Korean drone took photos from the office of South Korea’s president, Rep. Youn Kun-enom from the main opposition Democratic Party to journalists.
“It is worrying that Yongsan, where South Korea’s top security control facility is located, was hacked at the height of tensions between the two Koreas,” Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
He said early rejection would also undermine public trust.
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South Korea under President Yoon Suk-yeol has increased joint military exercises with the United States and is discussing with Washington joint plans and exercises involving US nuclear assets.
North Korea studies scholar Ahn Chan-il told AFP that the hawkish Yoon had apparently become a “feared figure” in Pyongyang.
The drone strike could serve as a test for future assassination attempts, he said.