North Korea says Seoul aimed to “recognize the zone” and classifies the act as a “serious violation of North Korean sovereignty”
North Korea stated that a South Korean drone violated the country’s airspace at the beginning of the year and assured that Seoul will “pay a high price” for attacking North Korean sovereignty.
“On January 4th, subunits of the Korean People’s Army [do Norte]in charge of aerial surveillance of the border, captured and tracked an aerial object heading north over the area of Hado-ri, Songhae-myon, Kanghwa County, Inchon City,” said an army spokesman on Friday in a statement carried by the North Korean news agency KCNA.
Pyongyang stated that the device was equipped with surveillance devices and, after analyzing the wreckage, determined that it had two video cameras that collected images of North Korean areas over the course of seven minutes.
North Korean authorities indicated that the purpose of the drone was to “reconnaissance the area”.
South Korea, “a group of vandals who surprised the world by causing an incident in which their drone violated Pyongyang’s airspace in October 2024, committed another serious violation of North Korean sovereignty,” said the official.
The spokesperson also recalled the incursion, last September, of another drone, equipped with “a high-resolution optical camera”, constituting “a clear means of surveillance and reconnaissance”.
Seoul denies launching spy drones into North Korea
South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back this Saturday rejected Pyongyang’s statements, which accused Seoul of having launched two spy drones into North Korean territory in recent months.
The minister classified the accusations as “absolutely false” and said that the South Korean Army does not use drones like those shown in images of the incident published this Saturday by the North Korean state news agency KCNA.
Speaking to South Korean news agency Yonhap, Ahn further explained that no South Korean unit carried out flight operations on the dates mentioned by Pyongyang.
Despite this, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung ordered the incident to be investigated, Yonhap reported, while Ahn suggested that the investigation could be carried out with the neighboring country.
North Korea said on Friday that a South Korean drone violated the country’s airspace at the beginning of the year and assured that Seoul will “pay a heavy price” for attacking North Korean sovereignty.
“On January 4th, subunits of the Korean People’s Army [do Norte]in charge of aerial surveillance of the border, captured and tracked an aerial object heading north over the area of Hado-ri, Songhae-myon, Kanghwa County, Inchon City,” said an army spokesperson in a statement released by KCNA.
