PYONGYANG: North Korea accused the South on Saturday (Jan 10) of flying another drone over its territory this month for the purpose of spying, a claim that Seoul denied.
The North Korean military tracked a drone “moving northwards” over the South Korean border county of Ganghwa in early January before shooting it down near the North Korean city of Kaesong, a spokesperson said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“Surveillance equipment was installed” on the drone and analysis of the wreckage showed it had stored footage of the North’s “important targets” including border areas, the spokesperson said.
South Korea said it had no record of the flight, and Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back said the drone referred to by Pyongyang was “not a model operated by our military”.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung had ordered an investigation, the defence ministry said.
Located northwest of Seoul, Ganghwa County is one of the closest South Korean territories to North Korea.
Pyongyang said the drone footage was “clear evidence” that the aircraft had “intruded into (our) airspace for the purpose of surveillance and reconnaissance”.
Its military spokesperson said the alleged incursion was similar to one in September when the South flew drones near its border city of Paju.
Seoul would be forced to “pay a dear price for their unpardonable hysteria” if the incursions continued, the spokesperson said.
South Korea is already investigating alleged drone flights over the North in late 2024 ordered by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Seoul’s military has not confirmed those flights.
Prosecutors have indicted Yoon on charges that he acted illegally in ordering them, hoping to provoke a response from Pyongyang and use it as a pretext for his short-lived bid to impose martial law.
CHEAP COMMERCIAL DRONE
Flight-path data showed the latest drone was flying in square patterns over Kaesong before it was shot down, KCNA said.
But experts said the cheap, commercially available model was unlikely to have come from Seoul’s armed forces.
“The South Korean military already has drones capable of transmitting high-resolution live feeds,” said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
“Using an outdated drone that requires physical retrieval of a memory card, simply to film factory rooftops clearly visible on satellite imagery, does not hold up from a military planning perspective.”
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