South Korea accuses DPRK of 'violating' airspace using five drones
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One of them had flown to the northern neighborhoods of Seoul, while the remaining four flew across the area of Ganghwa Island, as per South Korea's claims.
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A South Korean Ka-1 jet crashed while fighting a North Korean drone.
South Korean news agency News1 agency reported on Monday that five drones that crossed the Korean military demarcation line "violated" South Korean airspace.
The drones were described by South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff as no bigger than two meters in size.
According to the report, one of them had flown to the northern neighborhoods of Seoul, while the remaining four flew across the area of Ganghwa Island.
The South Korean military said it quickly responded to the "intrusion" based on the right to self-defense.
Dec. 26, 2022#North Korea #Cross #Drones #UAV
— Heo TaeJin (@AIYeyENGDdJkjTr) December 26, 2022
Several North Korean drones cross the Military Demarcation Line and go south... South Korean military identifies multiple unknown aircraft pic.twitter.com/qaiPIzehco
The Joint Chiefs of Staff later reported that the military found suspicious traces that were interpreted to originate from North Korea.
The military first detected the "unidentified objects" near the border of Gyeonggi-do province at about 10:25 local time.
The drones then crossed the Korean military demarcation line and entered Paju, Gimpo, on Ganghwa-do Island.
The incident resulted in a temporary suspension of civilian flights at Seoul’s airports.
In response, the Republic of Korea dispatched a fleet of aerial warplanes, first issuing warnings, then opening warning fire, and finally launching an operation to obliterate the drones.
One of the planes, a KA-1, crashed at about 11:39 local time while conducting the operation.
Official sources confirmed that the pilots survived.
#BREAKING: South Korea Scrambled Fighter Jets & Attack helicopters while firing warning shots as 05 North Korean drones crossed its border. 🇰🇵⚡️🇰🇷
— Defence Max (@Defence_Max) December 26, 2022
Pic 1: A South Korean Ka-1 jet crashed while fighting a North Korean drone
Pic 2: A Suspected NK drone#NorthKorea #SouthKorea pic.twitter.com/D4fXUwcptd
This comes against the backdrop of strained relations between the two nations amid South Korea's provocative military drills with the US and Japan in the Korean peninsula.
On December 6, the Pentagon announced that the US Congress approved a $1.5 billion deal to sell CH-47 Chinook helicopters and related equipment to South Korea.
Read more: Seoul claims DPRK hackers stole $1.2bln in attacks
