N. Korea drone spied on THAAD site
A suspected North Korean drone found in Inje, Gangwon Province on June 9. / Yonhap
By Yi Whan-woo
A suspected North Korean drone found last week spied on the site of a U.S. missile shield in South Korea, the military said Tuesday.
It said the unmanned aerial vehicle, equipped with a Sony-made camera, contained about 10 photos of aerial view of the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province.
The photos included first batch of the THAAD components that arrived in South Korea on April 26, such as two mobile launchers and the X-band radar.
The findings show that South Korea is vulnerable to North Korea’s advancement in espionage using drones, according to the military experts.
They cited that the Seongju is about 270 kilometers south of the military demarcation line (MDL). The drone was found by a civilian on a mountain near the MDL in Inje, Gangwon Province on June 9 after it apparently crashed there.
The military is analyzing the drone’s built-in, Sony Digital Single Lens Translucent (DSLR) camera and its 64 gigabyte memory chip.
“After tracking its flight based on its photos, we concluded that the drone crossed the MDL, flew over to Seongju and crashed due to lack of fuel on its way back to North Korea,” a military official said.
“The drone took hundreds of photos of Seongju where THAAD has been deployed. It began photo shoot from several kilometers north of Seongju and after reaching several kilometers south of the THAAD site, it changed its course to back to the north and took pictures of the THAAD site again.”
The official explained the about 10 of the photos were related to THAAD while the remaining were on non-military areas, such woods, farms and villages.
The unmanned plane also took pictures of Inje as well on its way back to North Korea.
The pictures were taken about two to three kilometers above the ground.
The images of the THAAD launchers and radar are not clear when their photos were zoomed in, according to the military.
The military did not specify whether the photos of the other THAAD components arrived here after April 26 were taken.
The North Korean drones were found in the past. But this is the first time a suspected drone from Pyongyang spied on rear part of South Korea.
“The incident shows that our military should bolster efforts to detect and strike unmanned enemy planes,” an analyst said.
Some experts speculated that other North Korean drones may have spied on THAAD site and returned home without being detected by the South Korean military.
They cited that the photos found from the drone on June 9 are similar to the images of the THAAD site released by Pyongyang’s Korean Central Television (KCTV) on June 8.
Claiming that they are satellite images, the KCTV then showed photos of the THAAD launchers and X-band radar.
Some military authorities said other U.S. military facilities also may have been targeted by the North Korean drones. The drone found on June 9 has a 2.45-meter wingspan with twin engines.
It is estimated to be capable of flying over 500 kilometers. If true, it will be longer than that of the three North Korean drones in 2014. The three drones were believed to be designed to fly up to 300 kilometers. They crashed on the southern side of the MDL due to lack of fuel and engine failure.