South Korea flew military drones over Pyongyang just weeks before then-president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law last December, a provocation that triggered North Korea to prepare for war, according to Seoul’s defence intelligence agency.
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The revelation, disclosed in a closed-door parliamentary briefing on Wednesday, adds to mounting scrutiny over Yoon’s final months in office, with opposition lawmakers accusing him of attempting to fabricate a national security crisis to justify an unconstitutional power grab.
During the session at the National Assembly, the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) confirmed that drones operated by the South’s military had breached North Korean airspace on October 3, 6 and 9 last year.
Lawmaker Park Sun-won of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who attended the briefing, told local media that the drone flights were part of a formal reconnaissance operation overseen by senior field commanders under the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The incursions drew swift condemnation from Pyongyang. On October 11, its foreign ministry released a statement claiming that South Korea, “the most hostile, malicious and rogue state, has carried out a severe political and military provocation of infiltrating drones into Pyongyang” and “scattered anti-North Korea leaflets”, CNN reported.
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