North Korea accused South Korea on Saturday of infringing on its sovereignty with drone incursions in September last year and earlier this week, warning Seoul to be ready to 'pay a high price.' South Korea's defense ministry rejected the claim, stating the military did not operate drones on the asserted dates. The allegations come amid heightened tensions following North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's declaration of inter-Korean ties as relations between two hostile states.
A spokesperson for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army denounced South Korea as 'the most hostile enemy' through the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), insisting on continued provocations despite Seoul's overtures for dialogue. 'The Republic of Korea (ROK) should be ready to pay a high price for having committed another provocation of infringing on the sovereignty of the DPRK with a drone,' the spokesperson said, using the North's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Specifically, on Jan. 4, North Korea's military captured and tracked an air target moving northward from the sky over South Korea's Ganghwa County, Incheon, striking it with special electronic warfare assets, forcing it to fall in Muksan-ri near the border city of Kaesong, the KCNA reported. It also claimed that on Sept. 27, a drone that took off from the South's border city of Paju fell into Jangphung County, Kaesong, after being struck down following infiltration over Phyongsan County, North Hwanghae Province.
The spokesperson said the drone that crashed this week was equipped with surveillance devices and, based on North Korea's analysis, was set to record major North Korean sites while flying over 156 kilometers for more than three hours. Pyongyang released photos of debris, recording devices, and images presumed to have been filmed by the unmanned aerial vehicles, describing South Korea as a 'perfect copy of Kiev's lunatics' in reference to Ukraine's conflict with Russia.
In response, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back rejected North Korea's claim as 'absolutely not true,' noting the drones shown in the photos are not models owned by the South Korean military. President Lee Jae-myung ordered a 'thorough' investigation, with relevant agencies verifying the matter. Experts assessed that the disclosed drones do not appear to be military-operated, likely assembled from cheap parts unfit for military purposes.
The claims echo incidents in October 2024 when North Korea detected South Korean drones carrying anti-North propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang three times, threatening retaliation. Such flights were suspected during former President Yoon Suk-yeol's administration as a provocation to justify his short-lived martial law bid in December 2024. North Korea's assertions align with Kim Jong-un's recent declaration of inter-Korean relations as those between 'two states hostile to each other.'
Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said North Korea is cementing its hard-line stance toward Seoul ahead of a key party congress in January or February, where it plans to formulate a five-year policy on diplomacy, economy, and military. 'North Korea is expected to reflect the 'two hostile states' stance in the ruling party's rules and seek to revise the constitution,' he added.
