North Korea says South Korean drone entered its airspace on Jan 4

By Joyce Lee

SEOUL, Jan 10 (Reuters) – North Korea said on Saturday that South Korea flew another drone into its airspace on January 4, infringing on its sovereignty, according to state media KCNA. 

The drone, which originated from an island in the South Korean city of Incheon, flew 8 km (5 miles) before it was shot down inside North Korean airspace, KCNA said, citing a spokesperson for the North Korean military. 

The drone was equipped with surveillance cameras to record important North Korean facilities, KCNA said. Photos on KCNA showed a drone salvaged in pieces, electronic parts and aerial photos of buildings that KCNA said the drone had taken.

“Even after the change of a regime… (South Korea) has continued to commit such acts of provocation by drones near the border,” KCNA said, calling South Korea its “enemy most hostile”.

Since South Korean President Lee Jae Myung took office in June, North Korea has rebuffed conciliatory gestures from Lee’s administration. Lee had pledged to re-engage with Pyongyang to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea “can never evade the responsibility for escalating tension” and will be “forced to pay a dear price” KCNA said. 

A South Korean government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

North Korea has previously accused South Korea for sending a drone over Pyongyang in October 2024. 

South Korea’s former President Yoon Suk Yeol was accused by Seoul’s special prosecutor late last year of ordering the Pyongyang drone operation to use military tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul as a justification for declaring emergency martial law. 

Yoon has denied the charge, with his legal counsel saying the performance of the president’s duties cannot be framed as a crime after the fact.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Alistair Bell)