PYONGYANG/SEOUL – A senior official of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has urged the Republic of Korea to make a “detail explanation” about the actual case of the latest drone incident, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday.
Kim Yo-jong, vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, made the remarks in a press statement issued a day earlier.
According to the KCNA, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement released on Friday that the ROK had again sent drones into the DPRK’s airspace at the beginning of the new year.
On Saturday, ROK President Lee Jae-myung ordered a joint military-police probe into the possibility that the drone cited in the “drone infiltration” claim by the DPRK was civilian-operated, warning that if confirmed, it would constitute a grave criminal offense threatening peace on the Korean Peninsula and national security, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the presidential office.
ROK Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-baek said earlier on Saturday that allegations that ROK drones had violated the DPRK’s airspace were “absolutely untrue”, noting that the drone shown in photos released by the DPRK was not a model operated by the ROK military.
The ROK’s Defense Ministry also said it had confirmed that the military did not operate drones on the dates cited by the DPRK.