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S. Korea should urgently be prepared for North`s suicidal UAVs

S. Korea should urgently be prepared for North`s suicidal UAVs

Posted April. 07, 2014 02:46,   

한국어

An unmanned aerial vehicle that North Korea secretively deployed in October last year to Gangwon Province of South Korea has been recently discovered. The drone is found to have flown into the South via the east coast, and navigated over Mount Cheongok in Samcheok City, while taking photos. If the drone did not crash, the South Korean military would not know whether its skies were exposed to infiltration by the North. Security threat is gravely serious given that skies over the east coast and inland areas as well as those over the presidential office and Five Northwestern Islands have been exposed to the drones. While the North has been closely monitoring key strategic locations in South Korea, the South was not even able to detect any signs.

It is believed that drones that returned to the North after completing aerial reconnaissance are way more than the three that were found crashed last week. Analysis by the military intelligence authorities suggested that the drone found in Paju, Gyeonggi Province took photos of areas in Seoul including the presidential office and northern Gyeonggi Province at least three to five times. The military has decided to conduct belatedly reconnaissance patrols simultaneously by mobilizing all of its units, but chances are high that the North already took photos of key regions and facilities in the South.

A spokesman for the North’s strategic military unit mentioned on Saturday the drone situation in the South for the first time, saying, “Unidentified UAVs leisurely flew over Seoul’s city center, including the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae and Gyeongbok Palace, and over the skies of Baengnyeong Island that had been under attack.” The North stopped short of clarifying whether it committed the drone incidents, but Pyongyang’s deriding rhetoric apparently suggest that it is enjoying its drones’ successful penetration into the South. Considering that “date of deployment” was spelled in the way used in the North on the battery in the drone that crashed in Paju, it is obvious that the drone was sent by the North. The North is the kind of an organized group that always denies aggression, which it secretively conducted.

While inspecting a demonstration drill of unmanned attack planes in March last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un instructed the military, saying, “Seize the coordinates of all targets in the enemy in the South, and put them into our unmanned attack tools.” With an operational flying ranging between 600 km and 800 km, The North’s suicide-type attack planes are capable of attacking the entire South Korean territory. Therefore, South Korea should urgently introduce both radars to detect low-flying objects such as small-size drones, and attack weapons to destroy them.

As revealed in the case of the North’s artillery attacks near Yeonpyeong Island following its sinking of the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan, the North has skillfully launched clever attacks through disguised tactics. When the South is engrossed in countering drones, the North could launch attacks with other means. Keeping vigilance over and preparing ourselves for the North’s attack means is the cornerstone of national defense and security of the South. The general public also need to be wary of drones from the North. Residents who had first discovered the drone in Samcheok only took away the digital camera mounted on the flight and failed to report the case to the military. The residents reported it belatedly as they were shocked to learn about the drone that surveyed the presidential office in Seoul. If the residents had immediately notified it to authorities six months ago, it might have prevented the exposure of the skies over the presidential office and Baengnyeong Island to additional drones.