North Korean Drone Causes 'All Stop' at Security Tourist Sites in Northern Gyeonggi

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] As North Korean drones crossed over Seoul and northern Gyeonggi Province, the operation of security tourist sites in the area was temporarily suspended.

According to military officials on the 27th, the operation of Paju Dora Observatory, the Third Tunnel, and Imjingak Gondola was suspended for the day, and visitor access was restricted. This is the second time following last month when North Korea launched ballistic missiles south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the East Sea.

North Korean drones violated South Korean airspace for the first time in five years, flying over Seoul, Ganghwa, and Paju for more than five hours, but our military failed to shoot them down. A total of five North Korean drones were identified. The first detected drone entered the Han River Neutral Zone between Gimpo and Paju, flew straight to the northern Seoul area, then left Seoul, and returned to North Korea after about three hours of flight. The other four drones entered west of Ganghwa Island and showed flight paths active in the Ganghwa area. The military judged these four drones were used as a distraction to disperse South Korea’s focus. These four drones were sequentially detected and then lost by our military’s detection assets, and no further flight paths were observed.

One North Korean drone was visually identified by our military pilot and was estimated to have a wingspan of about 2 meters. The others were detected only by radar, so their shapes were not identified. The military responded with Air Force fighter jets, attack helicopters, and light attack aircraft. When a drone was detected by radar off the west coast of Gyodongdo, helicopters fired about 100 rounds from 20mm machine guns but failed to shoot it down.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.