CNN
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Five North Korean drones flew into South Korean airspace on Monday, prompting the South Korean military to deploy fighter jets and attack helicopters, the defense ministry said.
The ministry said the South Korean military had shot down the drones, but added that it could not confirm whether any drones were shot down.
Lee Seung-oh, a South Korean defense official, said four drones flew around Ganghwa Island and one over the airspace north of Seoul.
“This is clearly a provocation and violation of our airspace by North Korea,” Lee told a news conference. In response to the airspace violation, Lee said, the South Korean military has sent its manned and unmanned surveillance devices to the inter-Korean border area, with some of them enter Korean territory.
The assets conducted a reconnaissance mission, including filming North Korean military installations, Lee added.
According to the country’s defense ministry, the South Korean military first spotted the drones in the sky near the northwestern city of Gimpo around 10:25 a.m. local time Monday.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense, the last time a North Korean drone was spotted below the inter-Korean border was in 2017. At the time, South Korea said it had recover A North Korean drone crashed while tracking a US-made missile system in the country.
North Korea has dramatically ramped up missile tests this year, often launching multiple weapons at once. North Korea has fired rockets in 36 separate days – the highest annual number since Kim Jong Un took power in 2012.
Most recently, North Korea launched two short range ballistic missile on Friday, according to South Korean officials. The missiles were fired from Pyongyang’s Sunan area into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
The secretive nation often test-fires missiles this way, firing them at an angle so that they land in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
However, in October, the country fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) on a normal trajectory. went through Japan for the first time in five years.
In November, the country announced it had launched a “new type” ICBM, the Hwasong-17, from Pyongyang International Airport, a missile that could theoretically reach the continental United States. And last week, Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister and a top official in the regime, state media statement North Korea is ready to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a normal orbit, a flight pattern that could prove the weapon could threaten the continental United States.
US and South Korean experts have warned that Pyongyang may be preparing for a nuclear test, its first in more than five years. North Korea has been developing a nuclear missile force, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, ramping up activities since the last of three meetings in 2019 between Kim Jong Un and Kim Jong Un. and then US President Donald Trump did not reach any agreement.
In October, Kim warned his nuclear force was fully prepared for “real war”.
“Our nuclear combat force… has once again demonstrated their full preparation for real war to control the enemy,” Kim said in comments carried by the Korean Central News Agency. state-run news agency.
