North Korea drones
\n Seoul
\nSouth Korea\u2019s military has apologised for failing to shoot down five drones that North Korea flew across their mutual border on Monday.
\nSeoul fired warning shots and sent jets and attack helicopters to shoot down the aircraft, one of which flew close to the capital.
\nDespite a five-hour pursuit, the drones reportedly all returned to North Korea.
\nSouth Korea\u2019s President has said that the incident showed the military\u2019s readiness was \u201cgreatly lacking\u201d.
\nSouth Korea\u2019s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which represents the major branches of its armed services, acknowledged in a statement on Tuesday that while the military can counter \u201cattack drones that pose a real threat\u201d, it is limited in its ability to detect and strike smaller spy drones.
\n\u201cOur military\u2019s lack of preparedness has caused a lot of concern to the people,\u201d said a senior official, Kang Shin-chul. He added that the military would \u201cactively employ detection devices to spot the enemy\u2019s drone from an early stage and aggressively deploy strike assets\u201d.
\nThe BBC\u2019s Seoul correspondent, Jean Mackenzie, has said it is concerning because the drone that flew near Seoul had the potential to run surveillance operations and to photograph sensitive areas.
\nSpeaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Yoon Suk-yeol said he would seek to speed up the creation of a military unit to monitor North Korea\u2019s military facilities in response to Monday\u2019s incident, which would be supplied with cutting-edge stealthy drones.
\nHe also blamed his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, for his \u201cdangerous\u201d North Korea policy that included a 2018 inter-Korean military pact banning hostile activities in the border areas.
\nMonday\u2019s incursion was the first time in five years that North Korean drones had entered the South\u2019s airspace and comes amid increased tensions on the peninsula, with the North conducting a record number of missile tests this year.
\nLocal media were reporting that there had been another possible drone sighting in South Korea on Tuesday, but the defence ministry has said that this was a flock of birds.
\nEarlier this month, the North claimed to have performed major tests needed to help it develop its first spy satellite, which could be used to monitor South Korea. It released an aerial photo of Seoul, which it said had been taken during the test.
\nExperts believe North Korea is working to refine and improve its weapons, while putting pressure on the United States to ease sanctions in any future negotiations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Korea drones Seoul South Korea\u2019s military has apologised for failing to shoot down five drones that North Korea flew across their mutual border on Monday. Seoul fired warning shots and sent jets and attack helicopters to shoot down the aircraft, one of which flew close to the capital. Despite a five-hour pursuit, the drones […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-303894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n