South Korea on Monday (December 26th) accused its North Korean neighbor of flying "several" drones at the inter-Korean border, prompting it to deploy planes and fire warning shots to repel them.
"Our military first detected a North Korean unmanned aerial vehicle around Gimpo airspace at 10:25 a.m." (0125 GMT), the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. .
"Several 'North Korean drones' invaded our airspace" in the border area near Gyeonggi province, the statement said.
The incursion drew warning fire from Seoul, which also deployed fighter jets and helicopter gunships.
One of them, a KA-1 fighter jet, then crashed in Hoengseong County, further east, according to the Yonhap news agency.
A first for five years
Flights were temporarily suspended at Gimpo and Incheon international airports near the capital for about an hour at the request of the military, Yonhap said, citing a South Korean transport ministry official.
It is the first time in five years that North Korean drones have flown over South Korean airspace.
The incursion comes amid heightened tension, as Pyongyang has carried out an unprecedented series of weapons tests this year.
With AFP
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