South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday criticized his military’s response to North Korean drones invading the South’s airspace. Yoon called for a new military unit specializing in drone interceptions.

“The incident showed a substantial lack of our military’s preparedness and training for the past several years, and clearly confirmed the need for more intense readiness and training,” Yoon said at a cabinet meeting.

The South Korean president took a swipe at his liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in, for neglecting military readiness while putting too much faith in his diplomatic skills and the “good intentions” of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Yoon pointedly noted the South Korean military has not held any anti-drone exercises since 2017, the year Moon took office.

“I believe the people clearly saw the danger of a North Korea policy that relied on North Korea’s good intentions and military agreements,” Yoon said, suggesting it was one reason he won the last election.

“We had been planning to establish a drone unit to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance operations on North Korea’s key military facilities, but in the wake of yesterday’s incident, we will move up the drone unit’s establishment as much as possible,” he told his cabinet.

South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party (DP) took exception to Yoon blaming the subpar drone incursion response on his predecessor.

FILE – South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, talks with his staff during the ASEAN – East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Nov. 13, 2022. The United States and its two top Asian allies have been working quietly on the sidelines of this week’s Group of 20 meetings in Bali, Indonesia, to raise the issue of North Korea’s growing aggressiveness and build a broader coalition of like-minded states to help maintain international pressure on it. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

“President Yoon cited the previous government even for a security failure, making us question his qualification as commander in chief. There should be a limit in evading responsibility,” said DP floor spokesman Rep. Lee Soo-jin.

The South Korean military offered a public apology on Tuesday for its failure to intercept the five North Korean drones, one of which flew uncomfortably close to Seoul. 

“We feel sorry that although our military detected and tracked the drones, we failed to shoot them down,” said South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) operations director Lt. Gen. Kang Shin-chul. 

Kang said the drones were extremely difficult to intercept because they were small, unarmed, and flying close to the ground. He reassured the public that South Korea’s defenses would be much more effective against larger armed drones, and described plans to upgrade those defenses further with advanced technology like laser systems.

“But in the end, we have caused much public concern due to insufficiency in the military readiness posture,” he said.

A JCS official said at a press briefing on Tuesday that South Korean military pursued the drone that flew over the greater Seoul area, but did not shoot it down because there were civilians below.

According to the Straits Times on Tuesday, South Korean media correctly reported that over a hundred rounds were fired at the invading drones, and evidently noted a single helicopter blazing away with a machine gun at one or more of the drones. All five of the unmanned vehicles were able to return to North Korea after flying over the South for about five hours total.

“The incident caught the South’s military off guard, exposing the immaturity of its responses. They will need to check their GPS jamming and overall response systems,” Dr. Cha Du-hyeogn of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul told the Straits Times.