North Korea Drone Last Week Entered No-Fly Zone in Central Seoul

Sangmi Cha
·2 min read

(Bloomberg) -- A North Korean drone in late December violated a no-fly zone close to South Korea’s top government office, a move that weighed on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s consideration of scrapping a 2018 border agreement his administration has accused Pyongyang of breaching.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The drone was one of about five North Korea sent across the border on Dec. 26 and it briefly entered the 3.7-kilometer (2.3-mile) no-fly zone around the office of South Korea’s president, military authorities in Seoul said on Thursday. The drone apparently flew into a part of the northern end of the no-fly zone, the Defense Ministry said in a text message sent to reporters, adding it posed no risk to people in the area.

South Korea sent drones across the border into North Korea for the first time in an unprecedented tit-for-tat military action hours after Kim Jong Un’s regime dispatched its drones across the border. South Korea’s military had initially dismissed reports in local media that one North Korean drone flew near the presidential office.

Yoon ordered his security and defense team to consider suspending a 2018 military agreement with North Korea if it violates South Korean territory again, Yoon’s press secretary, Kim Eun-hye, told a news briefing. Yoon also called for swift development of a “drone killer” system and a joint drone unit that can conduct surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic warfare, she said.

The deal from about five years ago struck between previous President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for halting all hostile military activities near border areas — and suspended broadcasts from loudspeakers pointed at the other side.

The US, which has long stationed troops in South Korea to defend against North Korea, has also signaled support for Yoon’s stance on North Korea.

“We are concerned about the DPRK’s apparent disregard of the 2018 comprehensive military agreement,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a regular briefing in Washington, referring to North Korea by its formal name. He also said the US calls on North Korea “to end its irresponsible and escalatory behavior,” adding the US would defer to Seoul with regard to a possible aggregation of the military deal.

--With assistance from Shinhye Kang.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.