South Korean authorities reported Monday that several North Korean drones have crossed the border and deployed aircraft and helicopters to shoot them down, the first such incident since 2017.
South Korean Army General Staff sources have indicated that Seoul has detected around 10:25 a.m. (local time) multiple «unidentified objects» in areas of Gyeonggi province and added that the devices crossed the Military Demarcation Line.
He stressed that they have been located in Gimpo, Ganghwa and Paju, causing a temporary suspension of civilian flights during military operations to shoot them down, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. It is not known at this time whether the drones were carrying explosives.
As part of Seoul’s response, a KA-1 light aircraft crashed in Hoengseong County, 140 kilometers east of the capital, Seoul, although the two pilots managed to eject and were unharmed.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula following Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile firings, including two short-range missiles launched earlier on Friday.
U.S. and South Korean officials agreed last week to conduct «realistic» joint military exercises, especially in the face of missile or nuclear attack scenarios by North Korea. The South Korean Defense Ministry stressed that the parties also plan to expand their joint exercises next year following a meeting between senior defense officials from both countries.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
