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South Korean commander ordered drone mission over North, DP lawmaker claims

Published: 01 Jul. 2025, 09:46 Updated: 01 Jul. 2025, 18:44

Democratic Party Rep. Park Sun-won speaks during a hearing at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Feb. 21. [NEWS1]

Amid North Korea’s claim that a drone that breached its airspace last October belonged to the South, new allegations suggest the mission was personally ordered by South Korea’s drone operations commander.

Democratic Party (DP) Rep. Park Sun-won, who serves on both the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee and National Defense Committee, said in a press conference Monday that he had received an internal military report confirming the operation.

“According to a credible source within the military, the commander of the Drone Operations Command personally called a field-grade officer responsible for UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] operations and instructed the launch,” Park said.

The UAV in question reportedly dropped propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang before crashing. North Korea claimed at the time that it was a South Korean drone.

“The drone that crashed while scattering leaflets in Pyongyang last October was indeed sent by our military from Baengnyeong Island, and its flight path was very similar to the one disclosed by North Korea,” Park said. “This report supports this testimony.”

Park also accused the Defense Counterintelligence Command of orchestrating a cover-up.

“They distorted the official report and fed misleading information to the press, the National Assembly and even top military leadership,” he said, adding that a joint military-civilian investigation was quashed under orders from the head of the counterintelligence unit.

“The DP has long raised concerns that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration attempted to provoke North Korea to create a justification for declaring martial law,” Park continued. “This latest testimony supports the claim that the drone incident was not an accident, but a deliberate operation followed by a concerted effort to conceal it.”

Calling the Yoon administration’s actions a “destruction of democracy and constitutional order,” Park said, “Using unmanned drones to provoke conflict and manipulate national security for political ends is an egregious abuse of power. Those responsible must be held accountable.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]