The Army of Seoul has been powerless in front of the overview, on its territory, of five North Korean drones, the first intrusion of this type of machine since 2017
By Philippe Mesmer (Tokyo, Correspondence)
Between confessions of helplessness and attempted political recovery, Seoul seemed embarrassed on Tuesday, December 27, by the incursion, the day before, of North Korean drones. “We are sorry. Our soldiers detected and followed them, but we failed to shoot them down,” said Lieutenant General Kang Shin-Chul, Director of Operations at the Seajor, (Jcs).
The day before, five North Korean drones had crossed the demilitarized area, the DMZ, separating the two Koreas. One of them flew over the north of Seoul before crossing the border three hours later. The other four were detected above the island of Ganghwa, Inchon and Gimpo, east and northeast of the capital, before disappearing from radars. It was the first north Korean drone incursion since 2017.
The South Korean army appeared destitute because it does not have the capacity to identify drones less than three meters long, admitted Colonel Lee Seong-Jun, head of public relations at the JCS. However, the North Korean devices measured less than two meters. Their detection was followed by the emergency takeoff of around twenty hunters and attack helicopters, with an incident: a light attack aircraft Ka-1 crushed shortly after leaving the track in the county of Hoengseong, in Gangwon, in the west of the country. The pilot and his teammate came out alive.
reprisals from the South Korean army
Despite this mobilization, said Colonel Lee, the North Korean drones could not be shot above the inhabited areas. The helicopters, however, pulled a hundred 20 mm shells in their direction, without reaching them. And the South Korean army sent drones to DMZ as a reprisal. For the first time – officially – some have entered the north for “surveillance operations for enemy military facilities”.
The north-Korean machinery has had other consequences: flights from the International Airports in Incheon and Gimpo, both located near the island of Ganghwa, were suspended for forty-eight minutes at the request of the army. This is the first time that civilian flights have been interrupted due to a South Korean military operation.
“This incident shows that our soldiers are not ready,” reacted the conservative president, Yoon Seok-Youl, who attributed the responsibility of this lack of preparation to his predecessor, the Democrat Moon Jae-in (2017 -2022), and to its policy of reconciliation with the North. “I believe that our people now see the danger of a policy that counts only on the North Korean good will and the inter-ronean military agreements,” he said.
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