South Korea’s national security adviser said on Wednesday, January 14th, that anyone found responsible for a recent drone incursion into North Korea would be punished. The comments came after North Korea accused the South of flying a UAV into the border city of Kaesong and demanded an official apology.
National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said neither the South Korean government nor its military had carried out such an operation, but left open the possibility that civilians were involved. He said authorities were investigating whether a non-state actor may have launched the drone, adding that any wrongdoing would be dealt with under the law.
North Korea has released images of what it claims are the remains of the downed aircraft, and Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un, denounced those responsible as “hooligans of the enemy state.” Seoul has so far rejected responsibility, noting that Pyongyang itself has previously sent drones into South Korean airspace.
President Lee Jae Myung has ordered a joint military and police investigation, warning that any civilian action threatening stability would constitute a serious crime. The incident underscores the fragile security environment on the Korean peninsula, where the two Koreas remain technically at war under a decades-old armistice.
