South Korea’s military said on Tuesday that it fired warning shots at an unidentified flying object, possibly an unmanned aerial vehicle, that crossed the border with North Korea.
South Korean media said that over 90 rounds were fired at the object before it disappeared from South Korea’s radar screens. According to Reuters, the identity of the object and its ultimate fate remain unclear.
“The object on Tuesday, less than a mile high, was detected moving slowly by South Korean radar about 4 p.m. local time near Cheorwon, a city in Gangwon Province about 45 miles northeast of Seoul,” claimed a statement from the South Korean military transcribed by the L.A. Times. “The South sent warning messages and then fired warning shots. There were no reports of injuries or damage resulting from the most-recent incident.”
A statement from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said that a warning was issued to North Korea, and air surveillance was intensified to detect similar incursions.
The UK Independent recalls that South Korea believes several low-tech North Korean drones crossed its border in 2014. Also, the BBC notes that South Korean troops fired shots at a suspected drone in 2016.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to announce new sanctions against North Korea after a meeting on Tuesday night. A statement that additional sanctions were merited after Pyongyang’s ballistic missile test last weekend was released on Monday, signed by all 15 Security Council members, including North Korea’s patron China. North Korean media claimed that mass production of its new medium-range ballistic missile could begin immediately.
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