Monitoring Desk
SEOUL: South Korea’s army has tendered an apology for failing to shoot down drones of North Korea that flew across their mutual border on Monday.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledged on Tuesday that the military can counter “attack drones that pose a real threat”, but it is limited in its capacity to detect and strike smaller drones.
A senior official of South Korea, Kang Shin-Chul said that their military’s lack of preparedness has caused a lot of concern to the people. He said that the military would “actively employ detection devices to spot the enemy’s spy drone from an early stage and aggressively deploy strike assets.
South Korea
The President of South Korea said that the incident indicated the military’s readiness was “greatly lacking”. President Yoon Suk-yeol told the cabinet on Tuesday he would seek to accelerate the formation of a military unit to monitor North Korea’s military facilities in response to Monday’s occurrence.
He also blamed his predecessor, for his “dangerous” North Korea policy that included a 2018 inter-Korean military pact banning hostile activities in the border.
South Korea fired warning shots and sent jets and attack helicopters to shoot down the drones, one of which flew close to Seoul. Despite a five-hour chase, the drones reportedly all returned to North Korea.
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Monday’s intrusion was the first time in five years that North Korean drones had entered into South Korea’s airspace. Local media said that there had been another possible spy drone sighting in South Korea on Tuesday, but the Defense Ministry rejected the reports.
Earlier, North Korea claimed that it has performed major tests needed to help it develop its first spy satellite. Analysts believe North Korea is working to refine and improve its arms while pressing the US to ease sanctions in any future talks.
