This photo, carried by the North's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 10, shows what North Korea claimed was a drone sent by South Korea on Sept. 27, 2025. The North's military said it struck the drone with its electronic means, forcing it to fall in Jangphung County in the North's border city of Kaesong. [YONHAP]

This photo, carried by the North’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 10, shows what North Korea claimed was a drone sent by South Korea on Sept. 27, 2025. The North’s military said it struck the drone with its electronic means, forcing it to fall in Jangphung County in the North’s border city of Kaesong. [YONHAP]

 
North Korea on Saturday accused South Korea of violating its sovereignty by infiltrating drones into its airspace in September last year and again earlier this month, warning that Seoul would have to “pay a high price” for the alleged provocations.
 
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army denounced South Korea as “the most hostile” enemy and accused Seoul of committing provocative acts despite publicly calling for dialogue with Pyongyang.
 
According to the statement, the North Korean military on Jan. 4 detected and tracked an aerial target moving northward from the skies over Ganghwa County in Incheon, South Korea. The drone was struck using specialized electronic warfare assets and forced to crash in Muksan-ri near the border city of Kaesong.
 
 
The spokesperson said the drone was equipped with surveillance devices and that its recording equipment contained nearly seven minutes of video footage of North Korean areas.
 
The statement also reiterated Pyongyang’s earlier claim that another South Korean drone infiltrated North Korean airspace on Sept. 27 last year. That drone allegedly flew over Phyongsan County in North Hwanghae Province and crashed in Jangphung County, Kaesong, after being hit by North Korean electronic countermeasures while returning. The spokesperson said the drone contained 5 hours and 47 minutes of video footage of northern areas.
 
KCNA released photos it said showed debris from the downed drones, attached recording devices and images believed to have been taken by the unmanned aerial vehicles. It accused the South Korean military of being behind the operations, claiming the drones freely passed through areas where South Korean low-altitude detection radars and counter-drone systems are densely deployed.
 
The spokesperson said the downed drones were evidence Seoul’s “hostile nature.”
 
“The Republic of Korea is the enemy most hostile towards us that can never be changed in nature, and the object to be certainly collapsed by us if it attacks,” the statement said, referring to South Korea by its official name. The spokesperson added that South Korean “military warmongers” would be forced to “pay a dear price” for their actions.
 

These photos, carried by the North's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 10, shows the components of drones that North Korea claimed were sent by South Korea across the border in September 2025 and on Jan. 4. [YONHAP]

These photos, carried by the North’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 10, shows the components of drones that North Korea claimed were sent by South Korea across the border in September 2025 and on Jan. 4. [YONHAP]

 
The North’s claims have not been independently verified.
 
North Korea has made similar accusations in the past. In October 2024, it claimed South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets were detected over Pyongyang multiple times, threatening retaliation if such flights were repeated. South Korean officials at the time denied the allegations.
 
The latest accusations come amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared inter-Korean relations to be those of “two states hostile to each other.” At the same time, South Korea’s current administration under President Lee Jae Myung, which took office in June, has expressed interest in improving relations with Pyongyang and resuming dialogue.
 
Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, told the JoongAng Ilbo that the drones shown in the KCNA photos “appear to have been made by assembling civilian commercial parts that can be easily purchased online and do not look like conventional military drones.”
 
A senior South Korean government official previously denied claims that Seoul conducted drone incursions into Pyongyang’s airspace in October 2024. “That is completely untrue,” the official said. “On the day North Korea mentioned, our military conducted no flight training.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM JI-HYE [[email protected]]