South Korea confirms that Yoon ordered the dispatch of drones in response to Pyongyang's measures

MADRID, 28 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The South Korean authorities have confirmed this Wednesday that the country's president, Yooon Suk Yeol, ordered the dispatch of several drones in response to the entry into his airspace of several aircraft from North Korea.

Yoon reportedly instructed his cabinet to send "two or three drones" across the border if the northern neighbor sent one, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The president also reportedly ordered North Korean drones to be shot down if necessary, warning of the "tense situation" in the presidential office.

"When the first one fell, the president instructed us to immediately take the corresponding measures against North Korea, saying that we also have drones," explained an anonymous official, in statements collected by the aforementioned agency.

"He ordered us to send two or three in response to one from North Korea. He gave the order that we should shoot it down if necessary and take appropriate action as much as possible," an anonymous official said.

He also noted that an emergency security meeting was convened on Monday to assess the "provocation situation" by Pyongyang and discuss "future countermeasures and responses."

The South Korean Army General Staff said on Monday that Seoul detected multiple "unidentified objects" in areas of Gyeonggi Province around 10:25 a.m. (local time), adding that the devices crossed the Military Demarcation Line.

Thus, he stressed that they were located in Gimpo, Ganghwa and Paju, causing a temporary suspension of civilian flights during military operations to shoot them down, according to the South Korean agency.

The event was the first of its kind since 2017, although between 2014 and 2017 Seoul denounced numerous drone overflight operations by North Korea and warned of the military threat posed by these devices, both to carry out attacks and in operations espionage.

The incident took place amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula following the latest ballistic missile fire from Pyongyang, including two short-range missiles launched earlier in the day on Friday.