N. Korea claims S. Korean drone took off from western border island in Oct. for incursion into Pyongyang

North Korea said Monday that its analysis of the flight log of a drone that crashed in Pyongyang earlier this month showed it took off from a South Korean border island in the Yellow Sea, insisting that the South Korean military is behind what it claimed were South Korea’s drone incursions.

North Korea earlier claimed that South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets were detected in the night skies over Pyongyang three times this month and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again.

Announcing the final results of its probe into the drone incursions, North Korea’s defense ministry said it has analyzed the flight control program from the remains of a drone that crashed after intruding into the North’s sky on Oct. 8, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The North said the drone took off from South Korea’s border island of Baengnyeong in the Yellow Sea at 11:25:30 p.m. on Oct. 8 and intruded into the territorial air of North Korea.

The drone scattered “p
olitical motivational rubbish” in the sky over areas between the building of North Korea’s foreign ministry and the Sungri metro station in Pyongyang at 1:32:08 a.m., as well as the building of the defense ministry at 1:35:11 a.m., on Oct. 9, the KCNA said.

North Korea published an illustration that it created to show the flight route of the drone. The flight route, marked as a green line, rises clockwise along the western coastline after starting from Baengnyeong Island, enters the sky of Pyongyang and goes back down the same path to return to the island.

The results “clearly proved the most vulgar and shameless provocative nature of the ROK military gangsters who have persistently evaded the responsibility for the illegal intrusion by their drone into the sky above the capital city of the DPRK,” a spokesperson at the North’s defense ministry said.

ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea, and DPRK is the acronym of North Korea’s full name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Kore
a.

North Korea warned that “the source of all misfortunes and provocations will disappear forever by the merciless offensive” by the North if South Korea once again infringes upon its sovereignty.

South Korea’s military has said it could not confirm whether the North’s drone claims are true. In response to North Korea’s military threat, Seoul’s defense ministry has warned that the North will face “the end of its regime” if it causes any harm to South Korean people.

Source: Yonhap News Agency