Seoul: North Korea claimed on Saturday that South Korea infringed on its sovereignty with drone incursions in September last year and earlier this week, saying that Seoul should be ready to ‘pay a high price’ for what it called a provocation.
But South Korea’s defence ministry rejected Pyongyang’s claim, saying the South’s military did not operate drones on the dates asserted by the North.
A spokesperson of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army issued a statement denouncing South Korea as ‘the most hostile’ enemy, insisting that Seoul has continued to stage provocative acts, contradicting its overtures for dialogue with Pyongyang, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“The Republic of Korea (ROK) should be ready to pay a high price for having committed another provocation of infringing on the sovereignty of the DPRK with a drone,” the spokesperson said, referring to South Korea by its official name. DPRK is short for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
On January 4, North Korea’s military captured and tracked an air target moving northward from the sky over South Korea’s Ganghwa County, Incheon, and struck the drone with special electronic warfare assets, forcing it to fall in Muksan-ri near the North’s border city of Kaesong, the KCNA said.
It also said that on September 27, a drone, which took off from the South’s border city of Paju, fell into Jangphung County, Kaesong, after being struck down by the North’s electronic means. The drone was returning after infiltrating the sky above Phyongsan County, North Hwanghae Province, it said.
The spokesperson said that the drone, which crashed this week, was equipped with surveillance devices, while citing the North’s analysis that the drone was set to record the North’s major objects while flying a distance of 156 kilometres for more than three hours.
North Korea released photos of debris from the drones, recording devices and images presumed to have been filmed by the unmanned aerial vehicles. It described South Korea as a “perfect copy of Kiev’s lunatics,” likening the South to Ukraine fighting against Russia.
Pyongyang accused the South Korean military of being behind the drone infiltrations, saying those drones freely passed over areas where the South Korean Army’s radar systems for detecting low-altitude targets and anti-drone equipment are located.
“The ROK is the enemy most hostile towards us that can never be changed in nature, and the object to be certainly collapsed by us if it attacks,” the spokesperson said. “The ROK military warmongers will be surely forced to pay a dear price for their unpardonable hysteria.”
In response to an inquiry by Yonhap News Agency, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back rejected North Korea’s claim as “absolutely not true,” noting the drones shown in the photos released by the North are not models owned by the South Korean military.
The defence ministry said South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered a ‘thorough’ investigation into the matter and relevant government agencies are verifying it.
Experts assessed the drones disclosed by the North do not appear to be aerial vehicles operated by the military, noting they are likely made up of cheap parts not fit for military purposes.
In October 2024, North Korea said South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets were detected over Pyongyang three times that month, threatening to respond if such flights occur again, Yonhap news agency reported.
The South Korean military is suspected of having sent drones over Pyongyang during former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration in an apparent bid to provoke North Korea and use it as a pretext for his martial law bid in December 2024.
North Korea’s claims of drone infiltrations came as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has declared inter-Korean ties as those between “two states hostile to each other.”
Since taking office in June, the administration of South Korean President Lee has been seeking to mend ties with North Korea and resume dialogue with it.
Expert said North Korea is apparently cementing its hard-line stance toward Seoul ahead of an upcoming key party congress set for January or February. The North is expected to formulate a five-year policy line covering diplomacy, the economy, the military and other areas.
“North Korea is expected to reflect the ‘two hostile states’ stance in the ruling party’s rules and regulations at the party congress and seek to revise the constitution to codify it at a key parliamentary meeting in the first half,” Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said.
(IANS)
