PYONGYANG, January 10. /TASS/. A South Korean surveillance drone has been taken down over the territory of North Korea, the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement, published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
According to the document, the incident occurred on January 4, when North Korean air defenses detected and tracked an aerial target that crossed the border from the South. The North Korean military used electronic warfare equipment to land it on its territory. Further analysis established that it was programmed for a three-hour flight to film North Korea’s important sites.
Its cameras contained seven-minute footage made over North Korea.
"The relevant video data are a clear proof that the drone violated the territorial air of the DPRK for surveillance and reconnaissance of its area," the statement says, adding that even a year after the government change in Seoul, South Korea continues its provocations in the border area.
The General Staff spokesman added that a similar incident occurred on September 27, when North Korean electronic warfare units brought down another surveillance drone from South Korea.
"Saying in public that ‘it is necessary to drill even a hole like a needle point’ in order to communicate with the DPRK, the ROK does not stop committing a provocative act against it. It helped us again to have hostility toward the real nature of the ROK," the General Staff said. "The ROK is the enemy most hostile towards us that can never be changed in nature, and the object to be certainly collapsed by us if it attacks."
North Korea strongly condemns multiple provocations on the part of South Korea, and warns the Seoul government to immediately stop such behavior.
"The ROK military warmongers will be surely forced to pay a dear price for their unpardonable hysteria," the statement reads.