JCS APOLOGIZE OVER FAILED UAV RESPONSE

[Anchor Lead]

The South Korean military made an official apology to the public for its failure to shoot down any of the five UAVs. They also unveiled their plans to step up readiness posture, combat power, and related training. This includes the establishment of an exclusive military drone unit and securing stealth UAVs.

[Pkg]

The military issued an apology one day after North Korea's UAV intrusion into South Korean airspace. It expressed regret over the failure to shoot down any of the five UAVs. The military acknowledged current limitations in responding to small-sized recon drones as was the latest case. But said it was able to track them down this time unlike in the past and stressed it is capable of responding to attack drones which pose a real physical threat. The military also laid out plans to step up readiness posture. It promised to actively utilize detection assets to immediately identify enemy drones when they cross the border and also to deploy strike assets more aggressively. To this aim, current conditions on each unit's detection and strike assets will be thoroughly inspected.

[Soundbite] Kang Shin-chul(Director of Operations, JCS) : "We will effectively manage capabilities to shoot down UAVs without causing civilian damage and hold regular air defense drills."

Efforts to beef up combat power will also be expedited. This includes early establishment of an exclusive drone unit and securing stealth UAVs to strengthen surveillance and recon capabilities. As for the drone unit, one option mentioned is expanding the dronebot battle unit that was created under the Army ground operations headquarters in 2018. The military also vowed to swiftly introduce critical anti-drone assets such as jammers and lasers. It added that existing asset deployment plans will be pushed up as much as possible.