South Korean military officials said on Monday, five North Korean drones infiltrated their territory, prompting the country's forces to launch a counterattack using fighter planes and assault helicopters.
According to a South Korean military official, the country's military has also dispatched surveillance planes to the North to take images of its military sites.
A member of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, named Lee Seung-o, said during a briefing that the entry of North Korean drones is a blatant conduct of "provocation by the North" breaching the South's airspace, as per a report from Reuters.
At least one of the five North Korean drones flew into South Korea's capital city of Seoul, while the others were detected along the country's western coast.
According to Lee, South Korean forces "operated assets to shoot down" the unmanned aircraft. The Yonhap news agency subsequently reported that South Korea's military fired roughly 100 bullets but failed to shoot down any drones. When South Korea first spotted the drones, according to Lee, it fired "warning shots."
Yonhap, citing the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that South Korea had lost sight of four of the drones and knew that one had returned to North Korea.
Lee claims that a South Korean surveillance aircraft went inside North Korea to capture images of similar operations, implying the North Korean drone flights were also intended for reconnaissance.
Before 10:25 a.m. (0125 GMT), drones were seen in the sky above the western city of Gimpo, prompting South Korean military officials to begin tracking them as they flew across the so-called Military Demarcation Line between the two nations.
North Korea Owns Hundreds of Drones
Since a drone suspected to originate from the North was discovered crashed in South Korea in 2017, North Korean drones had not entered South Korean airspace until Monday. At the time, South Korean military authorities claimed that the drone had captured images of a US missile defense system in the area.
South Korean authorities acknowledged North Korea did have roughly 300 drones, affirming North Korea's claim about the size of its drone program.
In 2014, while analysts may have called them "low-tech," six North Korean drones were discovered south of the border that posed a possible security risk.
Pyongyang To Counter US-South Korea Military Actions
In retaliation for joint air exercises between South Korea and the US, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern seas last Friday, per Fox News. The nation has previously said that it considers the exercises to be an "invasion rehearsal."
This month, North Korea announced it had completed important tests for its first spy satellite and a more versatile intercontinental ballistic missile that can hit the US mainland. According to AP News, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, has promised to install a variety of cutting-edge weaponry, including multi-warhead nukes, submarines fueled by nuclear reactors, and hypersonic missiles, among other systems.
The governing Workers' Party of North Korea is scheduled to convene this week to discuss previous policies and plan future ones. According to some analysts, North Korea will probably reiterate its desire to increase its nuclear and missile arsenals at the meeting to counter what it views as aggressive measures of the United States, such as international sanctions and its routine military exercises with South Korea.
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