The South Korean military mistook a U.S. military reconnaissance drone deployed for joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises as an enemy aircraft, resulting in an unprecedented air defense operation alert.
While actual interception did not take place, reports indicate that despite the U.S. military notifying South Korean forces of the training plan in advance, internal reporting and transmission were omitted within the South Korean military. This has led to criticism that vulnerabilities have been exposed in the military's command structure and South Korea-U.S. coordination.
According to the military, an unidentified flying track flying near the Military Demarcation Line in the frontline area of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, was captured by thermal observation equipment and local air defense radar on the afternoon of July 30.
The Army's 1st Corps judged that there was a possibility of a North Korean drone infiltration, and with approval from the Ground Operations Command, issued the air defense operation alert "Durumi."
Consequently, air defense assets such as helicopters and the wheeled anti-aircraft gun "Cheonho" entered interception preparations, and search operations were conducted simultaneously.
However, about an hour and a half later, the flying object was identified as a "Stalker" reconnaissance drone belonging to the U.S. Marine Corps, which was participating in KMEP, the joint South Korea-U.S. Marine Corps exercise.
Although actual firing did not occur, a hair-raising situation was created in which an allied drone was nearly mistakenly shot down.
The incident is known to have been caused by the omission of reporting and transmission to higher echelons by working-level personnel in the South Korean military, even though the U.S. military had previously delivered training plans as well as official documents related to drone operation to the South Korean military.
It was reported that the drone in question was performing missions at a flight altitude that, under South Korean military regulations, requires prior notification of operation to the Ground Operations Command.
Inside and outside the military, voices are also expressing concern that if an actual North Korean drone had infiltrated, initial responses could have been thrown into confusion.
At the time, evacuation guidance text messages regarding the identification of a drone were even sent to residents north of the Civilian Control Line in Cheorwon, but since the region differed from the actual flight area of the drone, the circumstances surrounding the transmission of the text messages are also being verified.
A similar controversy occurred in February of this year.
Regarding the U.S. Forces Korea aerial exercise over the West Sea, the South Korean military leadership stated that they had not received prior notification, while the U.S. military expressed regret that reporting to the leadership had not been made, stating that notification to working-level personnel had already been completed.
Experts pointed out that this incident is an example showing that airspace management, flight plan sharing, and situation transmission and command-and-control systems between South Korea and the U.S. need to be comprehensively re-inspected.
(Reported by Kim Min정, Video by Choi Kang-san, Graphics by Yook Do-hyun, Produced by SBS Digital News)
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