On December 26, the first such incident in five years, Pyongyang sent five drones across the border into South Korean airspace, prompting Seoul to mobilize aircraft to respond.
During a rare incursion last month, the North Korean military had previously denied, but the South Korean military confirmed on Thursday that a North Korean drone had breached the critical no-fly zone surrounding the presidential office.
The North conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month, including the firing of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile ever, causing a sharp rise in military tensions on the Korean peninsula.
On December 26, the first such incident in five years, Pyongyang sent five drones across the border into South Korean airspace, prompting Seoul to mobilize aircraft to respond.
In spite of a five-hour operation, the South Korean military had already issued an apology for failing to shoot down any of the drones, which it blamed for being “too small.”
Additionally, it had repeatedly denied reports that the drones had entered the crucial P-73 no-fly zone, which includes the skies above the South Korean presidential office.
A spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lee Sung-jun, said on Thursday, “It is not true that (the North Korean drone) did not pass over Yongsan.” He was referring to the area where the presidential office and defense ministry are located.
An investigation had revealed that “the trail of a small drone of the enemy” had passed through the northern end of the no-fly zone, according to a military official.
The official stated, “We make it clear that there is no problem with the safety of the Yongsan office.”
The North “could not have obtained meaningful information” with its drone incursion, the South Korean military said last week, describing Pyongyang’s low level of technology as “worrisome.”
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP, “It is worrisome that Yongsan, where South Korea’s top security control facilities are located, was infiltrated during the height of tension between the two Koreas.”
He asserted that public trust would also likely be damaged by the initial denials.
Under President Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea has intensified military drills with the United States and is discussing joint planning and exercises involving US nuclear assets with Washington.
Ahn Chan-il, a scholar of North Korean studies, told AFP that Yoon seemed to have become a “feared figure” in Pyongyang.
He stated that the drone’s incursion could have been a test flight in the event of an attempted assassination.
