North Korea Claims South Committed New Drone Breach
South Korea "committed another grave infringement upon the sovereignty of the DPRK (North Korea) by making its drone violate the DPRK's airspace from the outset of the year," said a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, according to North Korean media.
Media reported that on Jan. 4, North Korea's military identified and tracked an airborne object moving northward from the sky over the South Korean municipality of Incheon.
The military deployed specialized electronic warfare technology to neutralize the UAV, forcing it down 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) from Muksan-ri, a countryside settlement on Kaesong's periphery near the inter-Korean boundary, the agency added.
"Availing ourselves of this opportunity, we cannot but mention about the fact that the ROK (South Korea) committed a provocative act of conducting surveillance and reconnaissance of our major objects by flying a drone into the territorial air of the DPRK in September last," the statement added.
The announcement indicated that on Sept. 27, an unmanned aircraft that departed from the South's frontier municipality of Paju plunged into Jangphung county, Kaesong, following its downing by the North's electronic capabilities.
Despite the transition of a "regime of hooligans in Seoul," Pyongyang stated, referencing South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's inauguration in June, South Korea has persisted in committing "such acts of provocation by drones near the border," it added.
Countering those assertions, South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back Saturday refuted the South Korean military's participation in the drone breaches in September and earlier this week.
Observing that the drones were not variants operated by the South Korean military, Ahn told Yonhap News that the North's claims were "absolutely not true."
In a separate portion of media report, Pyongyang declared South Korea "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."
Pyongyang called on the international community to "clearly understand what is the root cause of escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula and inviting the danger of armed conflict," it said.
South Korea's "military warmongers will surely be forced to pay a dear price for their unpardonable hysteria," it added.
The accusations from Pyongyang emerged days after Lee had pursued Chinese mediation with North Korea.
Lee has attempted to rebuild relations with Pyongyang since June, but North Korea has remained unresponsive.
Inter-Korean diplomatic ties deteriorated dramatically under the prior South Korean administration of Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed last year following his imposition of contentious martial law.
Yoon was also indicted of "benefiting the enemy" due to his alleged dispatch of drones to North Korea in October 2024 to incite retaliation from Pyongyang and use it as justification for his future declaration of martial law.
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