SEOUL– The South Korean military on Thursday denied an opposition lawmaker’s claim that a North Korean drone might have entered a no-fly zone set for security around the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul during its infiltration earlier this week.
Rep. Kim Byung-joo of the main opposition Democratic Party raised the possibility in a CBS radio interview that the drone might have passed through the “P-73” zone — an area within 3.7 kilometers of the presidential office in Seoul’s central district of Yongsan.
On Monday, the North sent five unmanned aerial vehicles into the South, with one of them having flown all the way to northern Seoul. The South Korean military failed to shoot them down, raising questions over its readiness posture.
“The claim is by no means true that the North Korean drone encroached upon the off-limits P-73 zone,” Col. Lee Sung-jun, the spokesperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a regular press briefing. “We express strong regrets over the untrue, groundless claim.”
Some observers said that it might have been difficult to confirm whether the drone had entered the off-limits zone, given that the small vehicle had repeatedly appeared and disappeared on the military’s radar system in a confusing manner.
Source: Yonhap News Agency