Park Ji-won on 'Pyongyang Drone' Claim: "If Provoked, It Will Explode... We Should Avoid Provoking Each Other"

"The Ministry of National Defense, Unable to Confirm, Effectively Admits"

North Korea claimed that a South Korean drone invaded the airspace over Pyongyang and dropped leaflets against the North, while Park Ji-won, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, urged, "The security situation on the Korean Peninsula is currently so tense that any provocation could trigger an explosion," adding, "Both North and South should stop provoking each other."

Park, a former director of the National Intelligence Service, said on the SBS radio program 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show' on the 14th, "As the chairman of the Democratic Party's National Security Situation Inspection Committee, I send a warning to North Korea not to provoke. Our government should also exercise restraint," and added, "Both sides are only exchanging verbal attacks without taking any real action."

He also pointed out, "South Korea's airspace has already been breached," noting, "North Korean drones have even passed over Yongsan in Seoul, and there are also trash balloons coming, so we are basically giving paper (anti-North leaflets) and receiving trash in return."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun's response that he "cannot confirm the facts" about North Korea's drone claims, Park evaluated it as "well done." Park said, "As a former director of the National Intelligence Service, I know that if the government said it sent a drone, it would mean an invasion, causing a serious security problem," and added, "However, in my view, the answer 'cannot confirm' is effectively an admission that a drone was sent."

Park believed that if North Korea's drone claims are true, the purpose of sending the drone would be to increase the effectiveness of leaflet distribution against the North. He explained, "We have no way to send anti-North leaflets all the way to Pyongyang," adding, "When leaflets are sent from South Korea, they fall inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and since it is not far to North Korea, they are practically ineffective." He further added, "When we investigate defectors and ask, 'How did you learn about news from South Korea?' no one says they learned it from the leaflets."

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