(PatriotWise.com) – The South Korean military launched fighter jets and attack helicopters on Tuesday after flying objects were spotted crossing the Military Demarcation Line from North Korea. While the local county office sent emergency text messages notifying area residents that the objects were North Korean drones, the military later confirmed that the “drones” weren’t drones at all but a flock of birds.
But you can understand why they were skittish.
Just one day earlier, on December 26, South Korea’s military failed to shoot down a group of North Korean drones that crossed the border for the first time in five years. Despite scrambling fighter jets and attack helicopters, they were unable to take out any of the drones which either turned back for home or disappeared.
During a regular Cabinet Council meeting last Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol said South Korea plans to establish a “military drone unit” that will be “tasked with monitoring key military facilities in North Korea.” He said after Monday’s incident, the drone unit will be established “as soon as possible.”
As part of the effort, President Yoon said the South Korean military would be introducing “state-of-the-art stealth drones” as well as bolstering its surveillance capabilities.
The failure to shoot down a single drone during last Monday’s incident has raised questions about the country’s air defense capabilities at a time when tensions between North and South Korea remain high as Pyongyang steps up its missile testing.
Maj. Gen. Lee Seung-o, the director of operations for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters that the military “will thoroughly and resolutely respond to this kind of North Korean provocation.
Last Monday’s drone incursion was the first time since 2017 that a suspected North Korean drone crossed into South Korea. According to South Korean officials, North Korea currently has approximately 300 drones in its arsenal.
In mid-December, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un claimed that his country was in the final stages of developing its first spy satellite, one of the high-tech weapons systems long coveted by Pyongyang.
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