South Korean military apologizes for failed drone pursuit

• South Korea laments not firing down North Korean drones Monday.
• North Korean facilities will be monitored by stealth drones.
• It provided an aerial view of Seoul from the test.

The military of South Korea has expressed regret for not shooting down the five drones that North Korea used to cross their shared border on Monday.

One of the aircraft, which was flying near the capital, was shot down after Seoul fired warning shots and dispatched jets and assault helicopters.

The drones apparently returned to North Korea after a five-hour chase.

The episode, according to the president of South Korea, demonstrated a “greatly inadequate” level of military readiness.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which represents the major branches of its armed services, acknowledged in a statement on Tuesday that while the military can counter “attack drones that pose a real threat”, it is limited in its ability to detect and strike smaller spy drones.

“Our military’s lack of preparedness has caused a lot of concern to the people,” said a senior official, Kang Shin-chul. He added that the military would “actively employ detection devices to spot the enemy’s drone from an early stage and aggressively deploy strike assets”.

In reaction to the event on Monday, President Yoon Suk-yeol said he would work to hasten the formation of a military unit that would be equipped with cutting-edge stealthy drones to monitor North Korea’s military sites. He made this statement during a Tuesday cabinet meeting.

He also attributed his predecessor Moon Jae-“dangerous” in’s North Korea strategy, which included a 2018 military agreement between the two Koreas that forbade aggressive actions in border regions, to Moon Jae-in.

North Korean drones entered South Korean airspace for the first time in five years on Monday, which coincides with rising tensions on the peninsula as a result of the North completing a record number of missile tests this year.

The defense ministry has clarified that this was a flock of birds, contrary to local media reports that Tuesday in South Korea there may have been another suspected drone sighting.

The North claimed earlier this month to have conducted significant experiments that would aid in the development of its first spy satellite, which could be used to keep an eye on South Korea.

It published an aerial image of Seoul that it claimed to have captured during the test.

According to experts, North Korea is developing and enhancing its arsenal while exerting pressure on Washington to relax sanctions in any upcoming talks.

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