Seoul views Pyongyang as leaving room for communication over drone incursions claim

▲ 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 electronic means to force it to fall in the county of Jangphung in the North's border city of Kaesong. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

N Korea-drone incursions

Seoul views Pyongyang as leaving room for communication over drone incursions claim

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) -- The unification ministry on Tuesday assessed North Korea as leaving room for "communication," referring to a recent statement by the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over South Korea's alleged drone incursions.

Kim Yo-jong issued a statement Sunday demanding Seoul's detailed explanation, a day after North Korea claimed South Korea violated the North's airspace by sending drones across the border in September and on Jan. 4.

An official at the unification ministry said it assessed the fact that North Korea has not issued a further statement following Kim's as Pyongyang's intention to monitor Seoul's response.

"Depending on the government's reaction, we are evaluating (North Korea as leaving) room for easing inter-Korean tensions and having communication," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

"The ministry will continue efforts to improve inter-Korean relations even with a chance of 1 percent," he added.

After the North's claim of the drone incursions, President Lee Jae Myung ordered the creation of a joint military-police investigation team to look into the matter.

In October 2024, Kim Yo-jong threatened military action against South Korea after the North asserted the South's drone incursions above Pyongyang three times that month.

Kim appears to have lowered the level of threat this time as she said if South Korea seeks to brand the latest drone incursions as an act of a civilian organization, it will see "a lot of unmanned aerial vehicles" sent by North Korean civilian agencies.

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