N. KOREAN UAVs CROSS INTER-KOREAN BORDER

[Anchor Lead]

The South Korean military captured 5 North Korean unmanned aerial vehicles crossing the inter-Korean border violating the South Korean airspace Monday. One of them even flew into the northern part of Seoul, in which the South Korean military responded back.

[Pkg]

The South Korean military tracked North Korean drones when they were detected north of the Military Demarcation Line near Gimpo, Gyeonggi-do Province at 10:25 a.m. Monday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said one unmanned aerial vehicle crossed the MDL first and then four more were identified. The first one flew into the Hangang River neutral area between Gimpo and Paju and then went straight to the northern part of Seoul’s airspace before returning to North Korea. The remaining four stayed mostly near Ganghwado Island near Incheon and fell out of radar while moving to the west. The military concluded that the drones were sent to disperse South Korean response.

[Soundbite] Lee Seung-oh(Joint Chiefs of Staff) : "We detected unknown flight tracks of supposed N. Korean the UAVs around the Gyeonggi-do region and responded to them. This is a clear provocation and an invasion of our airspace."

Once the drones were identified, the South Korean military issued warnings and fired several warning shots toward the north. When the drones were tracked to the western part of Gyodongdo Island in the West Sea with less likelihood of civilian damage, South Korea deployed attack helicopters to fire some 100 rounds, but failed to shoot them down.

[Soundbite] Lee Seung-oh(Joint Chiefs of Staff) : "We tracked the UAVs and dispatched attack aircraft in response without causing damage to our people."

In a separate move, the South Korean military deployed its manned and unmanned reconnaissance assets to areas near and north of the MDL. The South Korean drones were sent to the inter-Korean border area to fly as far into North Korea as the distance traveled by their drones into the South and photographed major military facilities in the north. There were reportedly no North Korean responses during this operation.