(2nd LD) N Korea-drone incursion
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| ▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 10, 2026, shows what North Korea claimed was a drone sent by South Korea on Sept. 27, 2025. The North's military said it struck the drone with its electronic means to force it to fall in Jangphung County in the North's border city of Kaesong. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ These photos, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 10, 2026, shows debris of drones that North Korea claimed were sent by South Korea across the border in September 2025 and on Jan. 4. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 10, 2026, shows debris of what North Korea claimed was a drone sent by South Korea on Sept. 27, 2025. The North's military said it struck the drone with its electronic means to force it to fall in Jangphung County in the North's border city of Kaesong. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
(2nd LD) N Korea-drone incursion
(2nd LD) N. Korea accuses S. Korea of drone incursions, warns Seoul should be ready to 'pay high price'
(ATTN: REWRITES lead; UPDATES with more details throughout; ADDS byline, photos)
By Kim Soo-yeon
SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea claimed Saturday that South Korea infringed on its sovereignty with drone incursions in September last year and earlier this week, saying that Seoul should be ready to "pay a high price" for what it called a provocation.
A spokesperson of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army issued a statement denouncing South Korea as "the most hostile" enemy, insisting that Seoul has continued to stage provocative acts, contradicting its overtures for dialogue with Pyongyang, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"The Republic of Korea (ROK) should be ready to pay a high price for having committed another provocation of infringing on the sovereignty of the DPRK with a drone," the spokesperson said, referring to South Korea by its official name. DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
On Jan. 4, North Korea's military captured and tracked an air target moving northward from the sky over South Korea's Ganghwa County, Incheon, and struck the drone with special electronic warfare assets, forcing it to fall in Muksan-ri near the North's border city of Kaesong, the KCNA said.
It also said that on Sept. 27, a drone, which took off from the South's border city of Paju, fell into Jangphung County, Kaesong, after being struck down by the North's electronic means. The drone was returning after infiltrating the sky above Phyongsan County, North Hwanghae Province, it said.
It is not immediately confirmed whether the North's claim is true.
The spokesperson said that the drone, which crashed this week, was equipped with surveillance devices, while citing the North's analysis that the drone was set to record the North's major objects while flying a distance of 156 kilometers for more than three hours.
North Korea released photos of debris from the drones, recording devices and images presumed to have been filmed by the unmanned aerial vehicles.
Pyongyang accused the South Korean military of being behind the drone infiltrations, saying those drones freely passed over areas where the South Korean Army's radar systems for detecting low-altitude targets and anti-drone equipment are located.
North Korea said the drone incursions were a reminder of South Korea's "hostile" nature, arguing that Seoul does not stop its provocative acts against the North.
"The ROK is the enemy most hostile towards us that can never be changed in nature, and the object to be certainly collapsed by us if it attacks," the spokesperson said. "The ROK military warmongers will be surely forced to pay a dear price for their unpardonable hysteria."
In October 2024, North Korea said South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets were detected over Pyongyang three times that month, threatening to respond if such flights occur again.
The South Korean military is suspected of sending drones over Pyongyang during former President Yoon Suk Yeol's administration in an apparent bid to provoke North Korea and use it as a pretext for his martial law bid in December 2024.
North Korea's claims of drone infiltrations came as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has declared inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other."
Since taking office in June, the administration of President Lee Jae Myung has been seeking to mend ties with North Korea and resume dialogue with it.
(END)
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