South Korea’s president yesterday called for stronger air defenses and high-tech stealth drones, while the military apologized for failing to shoot down North Korean drones that crossed the border for the first time in five years.
South Korea’s military on Monday scrambled warplanes and attack helicopters, but they failed to bring down any of the North Korean drones, which flew back home or disappeared from South Korean radars.
It raised questions about South Korea’s air-defense network at a time when tensions remain high over North Korea’s missile tests this year.
Photo: AFP
“We have a plan to create a military drone unit tasked with monitoring key military facilities in North Korea, but we’ll advance the establishment of the drone unit as soon as possible because of yesterday’s [Monday’s] incident,” South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said during a regular Cabinet Council meeting. “We’ll also introduce state-of-the art stealth drones and bolster our surveillance capability.”
South Korea’s military needs more intensive readiness and exercises to cope with threats posed by North Korean drones, he said.
Lieutenant General Kang Shin-chul, chief director of operation at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a televised statement that the military feels sorry because of its failure to shoot down the North Korean drones and for causing public concern.
South Korea lacks capacities to detect and strike small surveillance drones with a wingspan of less than 3m, although it has assets to spot and bring down bigger combat drones, Kang said.
South Korea will establish drone units with various capacities and aggressively deploy military assets to shoot down enemy drones, he said.
A front-line county office in South Korea yesterday sent emergency text messages notifying residents of a new batch of North Korean drones, but the military later said that it was a flock of birds.
On Monday, South Korea sent its own surveillance assets, apparently uncrewed drones, across the border as corresponding steps against the North Korean drone flights.
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