Pyongyang: The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has demanded that Seoul provide a detailed explanation regarding recent drone incursions, asserting that the drones from South Korea clearly violated North Korean airspace.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, made these remarks as South Korea's defense ministry denied Pyongyang's claims about the drone incursions originating from the South's military. The possibility was raised that private entities may have been involved in the alleged drone operations.

Kim stated in a message relayed by the North's Korean Central News Agency, "Fortunately, the ROK's military expressed an official stand that it was not done by itself and that it has no intention to provoke or irritate us." ROK refers to the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea. However, she insisted that a detailed explanation should be provided regarding the incident of a drone crossing the southern border from the ROK.

Kim further expressed her personal appreciation for South Korea's defense ministry "taking a wise choice" by announcing its official stance of not provoking North Korea when it denied the North's claim. Despite this, she maintained that the drone incursions, whether conducted by the military or civilians, constituted a violation of the North's airspace, cautioning that Seoul would face severe consequences if it opted for further provocations.

"Clear is just the fact that the drone from the ROK violated the airspace of our country," Kim stated. "If the ROK opts for provocation against us again in the future, it will never be able to deal with the terrible consequences to be entailed by it."

She alleged that video data retrieved from the drones was related to a uranium mine, the now-suspended inter-Korean joint industrial complex in Kaesong, and North Korean border guard posts, demanding an "explanation" from Seoul.

Kim also warned that if South Korea categorized the incident as the act of a civilian organization and argued it did not infringe upon sovereignty, "they will see a lot of UAVs by the DPRK's civilian organizations." DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

Kim remarked that the drone infiltrations reinforced North Korea's perception of South Korea as a "group of hooligans and scrap," marking the first time such explicit language has been used against Seoul since the Lee Jae Myung administration took office.

Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies in South Korea, analyzed that the statement by the North Korean leader's sister seems aimed at maintaining the regime's stance of portraying Seoul as an "unchanging hostile country" and denying Seoul's peace efforts to increase pressure.