North Korean Drone: Why the North Korean UAV that infiltrated Seoul wasn’t shot down

Controversy over the security threat to the Korean Peninsula is brewing as North Korea ventured into South Korea with a drone for the first time in five years and six months.

On the 26th, five North Korean drones crossed the Military Demarcation Line on the Western Front and invaded South Korean airspace.

Five South Korean drones flew over Seoul, Gimpo and Paju in Gyeonggi Province, and Ganghwa in Incheon for several hours before departing north or disappearing from South Korean military detection assets.

The South Korean military detected the North Korean drones and responded by sending fighter jets and attack helicopters, but as a result, the five were not shot down.

Invasion of North Korean drone territory was also detected in 2014, 2016, and 2017.

An official from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, “The North Korean drone found on this day (26th) is a small drone with a wingspan of less than 2m, as found in 2014 in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and Island Baengnyeong in Incheon.”

Meanwhile, on the 27th, a drone was seen around Seokmodo Island in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, and a distress text message was sent to the residents.

Regarding the situation in the Ganghwa area, the military said, “We evaluate it as a flock of birds, not North Korean drones.”

The South Korean military discovered five North Korean drones crossing the military demarcation line on the 26th, but all of them were lost as a result.

In the past, it was unable to detect the intrusion of North Korean drones in the first place.

The drones captured in 2014, 2016 and 2017 were all found in a crashed state.

Unmanned aerial vehicles are smaller and slower than conventional aircraft, and their flying altitude is low, making them difficult to detect on radar.

Additionally, even if it is difficult to capture, it is difficult to aim or shoot down due to concerns about civilian damage when it comes to the city center.

Park Yong-han, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense Analyst Institute, said, “If a small object such as an unmanned aerial vehicle flies slowly at a low altitude, it is judged to be new even if it is captured by radar, and it is difficult to recognize with the naked eye.” ” he said.

At a press briefing on the 27th, Kang Shin-cheol, head of the Operations Headquarters of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “Enemy attack drones that pose a real threat to us can be responded to with our detection and strike assets, but the small reconnaissance drones are small, less than 3m, and are currently detected by our military. He said, “There was difficulty in shooting down the attacking ability,” he said. “As a result, the lack of military preparedness caused a lot of public concern.”

Kang continued, “In preparation for enemy drone provocation, the South Korean military will closely examine the operation of detection and strike assets for each unit, operate detection assets to detect each unmanned aerial vehicle from scratch, and use strike assets aggressively.” he said.

He added, “In order to strengthen military power, a ‘drone unit’ was established early on with various capabilities to monitor and scout the enemy’s main military facilities, secure physical and non-physical strike assets, and stealth drones, and integrate them to enhance operational capabilities such as reconnaissance are being strengthened,” he added.

The South Korean military’s message was that President Yoon Seok-yeol said in a cabinet meeting that day, “Since 2017, efforts to respond to drones and military power have not been properly built and training has been completely absent .” It came out after comments that the Korean people would have seen if it was dangerous. “

Military experts explain that the North Korean drone threat is more of a terrorist threat than a nuclear-type military threat.

Associate Research Fellow Yang Wook of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies said, “An attack by a small or micro-UAV is much more of a terrorist nature than a military one.”

Researcher Yang said, “Microscopic UAVs have different characteristics from large UAVs and suicide UAVs, and they are too small to have units or equipment optimized for these characteristics, but not having them is a problem.”

Regarding South Korea’s current military drone detection technology, he said, “Since we have already developed and used radars that successfully detect small aerial vehicles, we were able to detect North Korean drones this time as well.” There is a limitation,” he said.

Meanwhile, senior researcher Park Yong-han said, “North Korea’s intention to attack the drones is to cause psychological pressure and threats.”

Researcher Park said, “North Korea’s drones are infiltrating for reconnaissance purposes, but the psychological effect is more than that.” Although the scale of the threat itself is small, the threat of the drone is a psychological threat to South Korea in the sense that its defenses can be breached anyway.”

Researcher Yang Wook said, “Even if the drone sent by North Korea is about 2m in length and width, the actual size of the body is relatively smaller and therefore the number of explosives that can be loaded is significantly less. ” The possibility of doing it is extremely less. neutral and extremely difficult relatively low.”

However, researcher Yang said, “However, if even a 10kg bomb is loaded through these drones, the damage will inevitably exist, even if it is not serious military .”

Controversy over the infiltration of North Korean drones into South Korea began in earnest in March 2014 when a drone with a wingspan of approximately 1.92m was discovered in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

The drone was equipped with a Canon camera and filmed the White House and downtown Seoul.

In the same month, an unmanned aerial vehicle with a wingspan of about 2.45m was found on Baengnyeong Island.

The drone, with a Nikon camera, was filming military installations on Baengnyeongdo, Socheongdo, and Daecheongdo.

A few days later, in April 2014, a drone with a wingspan of about 1.92m with a Canon camera was found in Samcheok, Gangwon-do.

However, in the case of this drone, the discovery time witnessed by the reporter was in early October 2013, six months ago.

The photo was formatted because the complainant took the drone’s camera memory chip and used it for personal use. The memory chip before formatting is said to contain pictures of Gwangdong Lake and the East Coast from an unknown location.

It is estimated that this drone is trying to gather information about the eastern coast of Gangwon-do and the military units stationed there.

North Korea has been emphasizing the importance of developing unmanned aerial vehicles ever since Kim Jong-un came to power as supreme leader.

In April 2012, North Korea unveiled a self-produced drone during a military parade to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung.

In March of the following year, Kim Jong-un was seen observing the test launch of North Korea’s self-developed UAV, and was said to have mentioned “strengthening deep reconnaissance activities using various UAVs” during a military inspection.

In July of the same year, North Korea held a large-scale military parade to mark the 60th anniversary of the armistice and unveiled various missiles and drones.

However, according to diplomatic documents released by South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April 2016, North Korea has already shown interest in drones in the 1970s.

According to this diplomatic document, in November 1974, during a meeting between Minister Yun Ha-jeong of the Korean Embassy in Japan and Takashima, Director General Ajou of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, they discussed that “North Korea is moving to introduce air vehicles unmanned. and diving equipment from Japan.”

North Korea is known to have acquired D-4 (ASN-104) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles from China in the later 1980s and 1990s, and began developing and producing its own UAVs based on the UAVs in the 1990s.

North Korea is also known to have acquired technologies and related drones from Syria, Russia and Iran in the 1990s and 2000s.