S. Korean military apologizes over failure to shoot down N. Korean drones

SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean military offered a public apology Tuesday for its botched operation to shoot down five North Korean drones that violated the country's air space the previous day. It also vowed to redouble efforts to bolster counter-drone capabilities.

"We feel sorry that although our military detected and tracked the drones, we failed to shoot them down," Lt. Gen. Kang Shin-chul, chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said in a statement, acknowledging "insufficiency" in military readiness against threats stemming from North Korean drones.

He added the military will "aggressively" mobilize strike assets against the North's drone threats.

On Monday, five North Korean unmanned aerial vehicles flew across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas, with one of them having flown all the way to northern parts of Seoul.

To better counter drone-based North Korean provocations, the military plans to "actively" employ detection devices and "aggressively" deploy strike assets, he said.

Kang also pointed out that the military will push for an early establishment of a drone unit to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance operations to monitor key enemy military facilities.

Earlier Tuesday, meanwhile, the South's military was put on alert again due to the appearance of unidentified objects, which initially seemed to be North Korean drones, in its northwestern area not far away from the inter-Korean border. But those turned out to be a flock of birds, according to the military.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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