North Korea announced on Saturday that a march had crossed from the Ganghwa Province bordering South Korea to the North Korean city of Kaesong in early January, and published pictures of the wreckage of the plane that it announced had shot down.
Ganghwa Province, northwest of Seoul, is separated from North Korea by the mouth of the Han River, which is less than two kilometers wide in some places.
Seoul denied these reports, and its Ministry of Defense announced that the drone was not a model used by its army.
Kim Yo Jong said: “Fortunately, the South Korean military expressed an official position that this was not his doing, and that it does not intend to provoke or disturb us,” according to a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
She added, according to the North Korean news agency: “But a detailed explanation must be provided regarding the circumstances of a drone crossing the southern border of our republic.”
In response to North Korea’s accusations, the South Korean military stated that its internal investigation revealed that it did not possess the aforementioned drone, and did not operate any drones at the time and place specified by North Korea.
President Lee Jae-myung on Saturday ordered a quick and thorough investigation by a joint army-police team.
Regarding the possibility of civilians operating the drone, he told me, “If this is true, it is a serious crime that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and national security.”
But Kim Yo Jong said that she did not care whether the drone was military or civilian, stressing, “This is not what concerns us.”
She added: “It is clear that the South Korean drone violated our country’s airspace.”
Kim concluded her statement by describing South Korea as “a group of thugs and scum.”
Analysts said Kim Yo Jong’s statement indicates Pyongyang’s desire to deal with the issue as a diplomatic matter.
“Pyongyang made clear through Kim’s statement that it does not intend to turn this issue into a military issue,” said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
But its demand for an explanation “suggests a shift towards a diplomatic attack by holding the authorities responsible” for the incursion, he told AFP.
This new accusation regarding drones comes as former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is on trial for issuing illegal orders to carry out drone operations, hoping to provoke a reaction from Pyongyang and use it as an excuse for his short-lived attempt to impose martial law.
Yoon was removed from office in April last year for trying to impose martial law.
