North Korea on Saturday accused the South of flying another spy drone over its territory this month, a claim Seoul denies.
The North Korean military tracked a drone “moving north” over the South Korean border county of Ganghwa in early January before shooting it down near the North Korean city of Kaesong, a spokesperson said in a statement published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“Surveillance equipment was installed” on the drone and analysis of the wreckage showed that it contained images of “important targets” in the North, including border areas, the spokesperson said.
Photos of the suspected drone released by KCNA showed the wreckage of a winged craft lying on the ground next to an array of gray and blue components that they said included cameras.
South Korea said it had no record of the flight, and Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said the drone in the photos was “not a model operated by our military.”
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's office said a national security meeting would be held on Saturday to discuss the issue.
Located northwest of Seoul, Ganghwa County is one of the closest South Korean territories to North Korea.
KCNA also published aerial images of Kaesong believed to have been taken by the drone.
This is “clear evidence” that the plane had “penetrated (our) airspace for surveillance and reconnaissance purposes,” Pyongyang’s military spokesperson said.
They said the incursion was similar to one in September, when the South flew drones near its border town of Paju.
Seoul would be forced to “pay a high price for its unforgivable hysteria” if the thefts continued, the spokesperson said.
South Korea is already investigating suspected drone flights over the North in late 2024, ordered by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol. The South Korean military has not confirmed the flights.
Prosecutors charged Yoon with acting illegally in ordering them, hoping to provoke a response from Pyongyang and use it as a pretext for his short-lived attempt to impose martial law.
– Cheap commercial drone –
Flight path data showed the last drone was flying in squares above Kaesong before being shot down, KCNA said.
But experts say the cheap, commercially available model was unlikely to come from Seoul's armed forces.
“The South Korean military already has drones capable of transmitting live images at high resolution,” said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
“Using an obsolete drone that requires physical retrieval of a memory card, simply to film factory roofs clearly visible on satellite imagery, does not hold water from a military planning perspective.”
