South Korea fires warning shots at North Korea after drones violate airspace
Misty Severi
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South Korea fired warning shots at North Korea on Monday and flew “surveillance assets” into the northern country after it violated South Korea’s airspace with drones for the first time in five years.
South Korea’s military sent fighter jets and attack helicopters to shoot down five drones from North Korea that were detected crossing into its airspace. One drone traveled as far as the north portion of Seoul, South Korea’s capital, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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“Our military will thoroughly and resolutely respond to this kind of North Korean provocation,” Maj. Gen. Lee Seung-o, director of operations at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, per the Associated Press.
The jets and helicopters fired a combined 100 rounds at the five drones, but it is unclear if the drones were successfully shot down. There have been no reports of civilian causalities in Seoul from the drones, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry.
South Korea also sent surveillance along and across the border to photograph important military facilities in North Korea.
The drones come a few days after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward South Korea in its latest military exercises. The exercise was seen as a response to South Korean-U.S. joint air drills that the North views as a rehearsal for a future invasion, according to the Associated Press.
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The drones also constituted the first known invasion of South Korean airspace in five years after a suspected North Korean drone crashed in the South in 2017. The drone had photographed a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea, military officials said at the time. North Korea has approximately 300 drones in its arsenal, according to South Korean officials.
The invasion comes less than a month after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un claimed the country was in the final stage of developing its first spy satellite.