Defense chief slams Pyongyang for violating truce accord with spy drone

By Park Sae-jin Posted : June 14, 2017, 17:37 Updated : June 14, 2017, 17:37

[Yonhap Photo]


South Korea's outgoing defense chief slammed North Korea for violating a truce accord by sending a drone across the heavily guarded inter-Korean border to spy on the site for a US missile shield.

Defense Minister Han Min-koo said South Korea would send a letter of protest to North Korea through the United Nations Command (UNC), describing the drone flight as a "serious" violation of the truce accord signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

During the war, US-led UN troops fought alongside South Korea to repel a communist attack. A US general signed the armistice accord on behalf of South Korea with North Korea. The two Koreas are still technically at war because no peace treaty was signed.

"It's early to say definitely, but I certainly believe North Korea was behind it," Han testified at a parliamentary defense committee, accusing Pyongyang of launching a small undetectable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to spy on South Korea's rear area. "I believe it's aimed at checking the base and deployment of a THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system."

The drone, powered by Czech-made twin engines, was found last week to have crashed in the northeastern border town of Inje. The defense ministry said the drone was apparently heading back to North Korea when it crashed due to an exhaustion of fuel.

Ten pictures were taken on a golf course in Seongju some 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Seoul where two THAAD launchers were deployed on April 26, the ministry said, adding most other photos contained images of forest land and residential areas between Seongju and Inje.

Pyongyang has developed a variety of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. South Korea recovered several North Korean drones which crashed south of the border in 2014. A North Korean drone crossed the border in January last year and flew back quickly after South Korean troops fired shots.

North Korean drones are nowhere near as sophisticated as those used by the United States, deployed mainly for short-range missions to take pictures, but concerns are growing that they could be weaponized for future attacks.

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
 
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