SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s military fired warning shots, scrambled fighter jets and flew surveillance assets across the heavily fortified border with North Korea on Monday, after North Korean drones violated its airspace for the first time in five years in a fresh escalation of tensions.
South Korea’s military detected five drones from North Korea crossing the border, and one traveled as far as the northern part of the South Korean capital region, which is about an hour’s drive away, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The military responded by firing warning shots and launching fighter jets and attack helicopters to shoot down the North Korean drones. The attack helicopters fired a combined 100 rounds but it wasn’t immediately known if any of the North Korean drones were shot down, according to the Defense Ministry.
There were no immediate reports of civilian damage on the ground in South Korea. One of the North Korean drones returned to the North after three hours in South Korea, while the rest disappeared from South Korean military radars one after another, the Joint Chiefs said.
The North Korean drones and the swift response from the South came three days after the North fired two short-range ballistic missile in the latest in its torrid run of weapons tests this year. Friday’s launches were seen as a protest of the South Korean-U.S. joint air drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
One of the South Korean fighter jets scrambled on Monday, a KA-1 light attack plane, crashed during takeoff but its two pilots both ejected safely, defense officials said.
They said they also requested civilian airports in and near Seoul to halt takeoffs temporarily.
South Korea also sent surveillance assets near and across the border to photograph key military facilities in North Korea as corresponding measures against the North Korean drone flights, the Joint Chiefs said. It didn’t elaborate, but some observers say that South Korea likely flew unmanned drones inside North Korean territory.