The alleged incursion into South Korean airspace was the first in five years and comes after a series of weapons tests by Pyongyang.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the military first spotted a North Korean UAV in Gimpo airspace at 10:25 a.m. and had returned the favor immediately.

This is a blatant act of provocation in which North Korea has invaded our airspacea staff officer told reporters.

According to the South Korean military, the incursion drew warning fire from Seoul, which also used warplanes and attack helicopters to shoot down five drones, one of which had reached airspace near Seoul.

One of the South Korean planes, a KA-1 fighter jet, then crashed in Hoengseong County, further east, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The army did not say whether the drones had been shot down or had crossed the border between the two Koreas, which is among the safest areas in the world.

The South Korean military has also used its own manned and unmanned reconnaissance assets to capture areas near and north of the military demarcation line appropriate measures.

We conducted reconnaissance and operational activities, including photographing key enemy military installationssaid the head of the JCS.

” Our military will continue to respond thoroughly and decisively to such provocations from North Korea. »

Flights suspended at airports

Flights at the country’s two international airports, Gimpo and Incheon, near the capital, have been temporarily suspended for about an hour at the request of the military, according to Yonhap, citing an official at the southern ministry.

According to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, this is the first time South Korean flights have been suspended due to the appearance of North Korean drones.

Given the low level of development of drones in North Korea, they are unlikely to have offensive capabilities used in modern warfaresaid the researcher, who believed they were used for espionage.

It is believed that they came to our area for a reconnaissance exercisehe added.

Tensions between the two Koreas are rising

It is the first time North Korean drones have flown over South Korean airspace in five years.

The incursion comes amid heightened tensions as Pyongyang conducted an unprecedented series of weapons tests this year, including testing its most powerful ICBM yet.

Last week, Pyongyang also fired two short-range ballistic missiles and said it has new ways of taking pictures from space with a spy satellite due to be finally developed in April 2023.

North Korea’s use of drones is a growing concern in Seoul, but Pyongyang has denied any involvement and accused its southern neighbor of fabricating evidence.

In 2017, the Seoul military fired warning shots at an aircraft entering the country’s airspace from North Korea.

A year earlier, South Korean soldiers fired warning shots at a suspected North Korean drone that had crossed the most sensitive area west of the border.

In September 2015, South Korea issued an anti-aircraft alert. She had sent a gunship and fighter jet to track down a drone that had crossed the border, to no avail.

In 2014, a South Korean fisherman found the remains of a North Korean drone in his net near a disputed Yellow Sea border island.