Fire North Korean Drones Crossing Border By Jets And Serang Helicopters, South Korea Reply To Send Rescuecraft

Illustration of South Korea's F-15 fighter jets. (Wikimedia Commons//Republic of Korea Armed Forces)

JAKARTA - Five North Korean drones crossed into South Korea on Monday, prompting Seoul to deploy fighter jets and attack helicopters to try to bring down the unmanned aircraft, a military official said.

As part of its response, the South Korean military also sent reconnaissance aircraft to North Korea to photograph Pyongyang's military installation, a South Korean military official said.

"This is a clear provocation by North Korea that violates our airspace," said South Korean official and Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Lee Seung-o, at a briefing.

One of the five North Korean drones flew near the South Korean capital Seoul and the other flew near the west coast.

Lee said the South Korean military "operated assets to shoot down" drones.

He did not say if any drones were shot down, but Yonhap news agency later said the South Korean military fired about 100 shots, but failed to shoot it down.

Lee said South Korea initially fired a warning shot when it first detected drones.

He added that North Korean drones on Monday were small, about two meters in size, but he did not provide further details including what equipment, if any, they were carrying.

South Korea tracks drones passing from North Korea through so-called Military Demarcation Lines between the two countries, after detecting them in the sky of the western city of Gimpo at around 10:25 p.m. local time, the military previously said.

One of the drones is known to have returned to North Korea while South Korea has lost track of four others, Yonhap reported, citing JCS.

In retaliation, a South Korean reconnaissance plane flew to North Korea to take photos in an action that matched North Korean drone flights, Lee said, suggesting North Korean drones were also meant for reconnaissance.

The drone was first confirmed to have come from an isolated neighbor since 2017, when a North Korean drone believed to be on a spy mission crashed and was found on a mountain near the border.

In 2014, a North Korean drone was discovered on the South Korean border island. The drone is seen as a rough plane mounted with a camera.