North Korea demands detailed ‘explanation’ from Seoul over drone incursion
The North claimed on Saturday that a ship had passed from the South Korean border province of Ganghwa to the North Korean city of Kaesong in early January and released photos of the wreckage of the drone it claimed to have shot down.
Seoul denied the claim, with the defense ministry saying the drone was not a model used by its military.
“Fortunately, the Republic of Korea military has taken an official stance that this was not done on its own and did not intend to provoke or anger us,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), using South Korea’s official name. he said.
“But one detail [sic] “A statement should be made about the actual situation of a drone crossing the southern border of our Republic,” he said, according to KCNA.
In response to the North’s accusation, Seoul’s military said its own investigation revealed that it “did not possess the drone in question and did not operate any drones on the date and time determined by North Korea.”
President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday ordered a “swift and meticulous investigation” by a joint military-police investigation team. On the possibility that civilians were operating the unmanned aerial vehicle, Lee said: “If true, it is a serious crime that threatens peace and national security on the Korean Peninsula.”
However, Kim stated that he did not care whether it was military or civilian, and said, “This is not the detail we want to know.”
“It is clear that the drone from North Korea violated our country’s airspace,” he added, according to KCNA.
Kim concluded his statement by calling South Korea “a bunch of hooligans and scrappers.”
Analysts said Kim Yo Jong’s statement showed that Pyongyang wanted to treat the issue as a diplomatic matter.
“Pyongyang stated with Kim’s statement that it does not intend to turn this into a military issue,” said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea National Unification Institute.
But his request for explanation “marked a shift towards a diplomatic offensive, blaming the authorities for the attack”, he told AFP.
The new drone allegation comes as former president Yoon Suk Yeol is on trial on charges that he illegally ordered drone operations, hoping to provoke a reaction from Pyongyang and use it as an excuse for a brief bid for martial law.
Yoon was impeached and removed from office in April last year over the attempted martial law.
