RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT IN S.KOREA

[Anchor Lead]

A Russian aircraft entered South Korea's airspace over the Dokdo islets on Tuesday, promoting South Korea to fire warning shots. It's the first time a foreign military aircraft violated the country's airspace, and also the first time a warning shot had to be fired.

[Pkg]

The Russian military plane that violated South Korea's airspace is an early warning and control aircraft. It entered the skies above the Dokdo islets twice on Tuesday morning. The Russian jet first entered South Korea's air defense identification zone at 9:01 a.m.A few minutes later, it entered the airspace over Dokdo and stayed there for three minutes. The South Korean Air Force immediately deployed F-16 fighter jets which fired warning shots from one kilometer away. After the shots were fired, the Russian jet flew southward but circled back to the north, and intruded into Korea's territorial airspace again at 9:33 a.m. As the South Korean jets stepped up their warning, the Russian aircraft left the Korean airspace four minutes later. The Russian plane violated Korea's airspace twice for seven minutes, prompting South Korean jets to fire more than 360 machine gun rounds. It has been revealed that Chinese bombers also intruded into South Korea's air defense identification zone on the same day. Two Chinese and two Russian strategic bombers have been found to have entered Korea's airspace without a prior notice. First, two Chinese bombers trespassed Korea's air defense identification zone at 6:44 a.m. from the skies above Ieodo Island toward the East Sea. At 8:33 a.m., two Russian bombers joined them near the Northern Limit Line. While the four jets were flying southward as a distraction, another Russian military aircraft showed up and violated the airspace above Dokdo. The violation of Korea's air defense identification zone by the Chinese and Russian strategic bombers had been planned in advance. Russia's Defense Ministry said it was part of the first Russia-China joint military drills. The South Korean government believes that the airspace infringement was intended to test military cooperation between China and Russia as well as the long-range flight capabilities of their military planes. It's the first time that foreign aircraft violated South Korea's airspace, triggering hundreds of warning shots. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the South Korean Air Force had to fire warning shots because the Russian aircraft failed to respond despite multiple warnings. The Korean government has expressed strong protest to the Russian government about airspace infringement, and warned of a much stronger response should the incident be repeated.