3rd North Korean drone found
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An unmanned aerial vehicle lies crashed on a mountain in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, Sunday. The military suspects it flew from North Korea to snoop on important facilities in the South.
/ Courtesy of Ministry of Defense |
By Kim Tae-gyu
The third suspected North Korean drone was discovered in a mountainous area on the east coast Sunday.
The Ministry of National Defense says it is the same model as one detected in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on March 24.
The ministry said that a wild ginseng digger reported the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) last week. After hours of searching, soldiers found it on a mountain in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, 130 kilometers south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
The ministry is seeking to come up with measures to address the challenges posed by “new threats” of aerial infiltration in the light of the recently discovered three crashed UAVs over the past two weeks. Another drone fell at the border island of Baengnyeong on March 31.
“Lee said that he first saw the 1.22-meter and 15-kilogram drone last October but didn’t think it was a spy drone. He reported it on April 3 after realizing that it looks similar to the Paju drone,” a ministry official said.
“Its appearance is identical to the Paju drone. We suspect the light-blue, triangular-shape vehicle that can be equipped with a camera came from North Korea. We will thoroughly investigate it to announce the interim report in the near future,” he added.
Last October, Lee retrieved a Canon camera from the UAV. After learning that it was critically damaged, he threw it away but checked the embedded memory card, which included multiple pictures of unidentified lakes and coastline, the official said.
Yet, the defense ministry has yet to secure the photos because Lee deleted them to use the memory card for personal purposes.
The Paju drone prompted criticisms of the military, which is accused of ineffectively handling the case. It filmed Cheong Wa Dae while snooping over it. Its battery bore terminology used in North Korea.
Suspecting that other UAVs might have entered South Korean airspace, the Joint Chiefs of Staff decided to expand its search area.
Despite its rudimentary technology, low-flying drones fitted with arms might pose great security threats to leaders including President Park Geun-hye because the South currently does not have a radar system against low-altitude flights.
Meanwhile, an unnamed government official told Yonhap News Agency that attack drones are believed to be capable of delivering bombs to almost all significant targets across the country as their range is estimated up to 800 kilometers.
The remarks are in line with those of Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin who said Friday that North Korea could develop far more advanced UAVs than those discovered here.
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