North Korea: North Korea said on Saturday that Seoul should be prepared to “pay a high price” for what it described as a provocation, claiming that South Korea had violated its sovereignty by using drones to invade its territory in September of last year and earlier this week.

However, South Korea’s defense ministry denied Pyongyang’s assertion, claiming that the South Korean military did not use drones on the days that the North claimed.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a spokesman for the Korean People’s Army’s General Staff condemned South Korea as “the most hostile” adversary and insisted that Seoul has persisted in provocative actions in defiance of its attempts to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang.Referring to South Korea by its official name, the spokesman said, “The Republic of Korea (ROK) should be prepared to pay a high price for having committed another provocation of infringing on the sovereignty of the DPRK with a drone.” The official name of the North is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK for short.

According to the KCNA, on January 4, North Korean forces intercepted and followed a northward-moving air target above South Korea’s Ganghwa County, Incheon, and used specialized electronic warfare tools to hit the drone, causing it to plummet in Muksan-ri, close to the North’s border city of Kaesong.

Additionally, it said that on September 27, a drone that had taken off from Paju, a border city in the South, fell into Kaesong, Jangphung County, after being brought down by North technological methods. According to the report, the drone was making its way back after penetrating the skies above Phyongsan County, North Hwanghae Province.

Citing the North’s study, the spokeswoman said that the drone, which crashed this week, was outfitted with surveillance equipment and that it was intended to film the North’s significant items while traveling 156 kilometers for more than three hours.

Photographs of drone wreckage, recording equipment, and photographs said to have been captured by the unmanned aerial vehicles were made public by North Korea. It called South Korea a “perfect copy of Kiev’s lunatics,” comparing it to Ukraine’s conflict with Russia.

Pyongyang said the drones flew easily across locations where the South Korean Army’s anti-drone equipment and radar systems for detecting low-altitude targets are situated, accusing the South Korean military of being responsible for the drone infiltrations.The spokesman said, “The ROK is the enemy that is most hostile to us and cannot be changed in nature. If it attacks, we will undoubtedly collapse it.” “The ROK military warmongers will be surely forced to pay a dear price for their unpardonable hysteria.”

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back dismissed North Korea’s assertion as “absolutely not true” in answer to a question from Yonhap News Agency, pointing out that the drones seen in the North’s pictures are not those that the South Korean military has.

According to the defense ministry, “relevant government agencies are verifying that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered a ‘thorough’ investigation into the matter.”

Experts concluded that the drones shown by the North do not seem to be military-operated aerial vehicles, pointing out that they are probably composed of inexpensive components unsuitable for military use.

North Korea threatened to retaliate if South Korean drones delivering anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets were found above Pyongyang three times in October 2024, according to the Yonhap news agency.

During the administration of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, the South Korean military is accused of sending drones above Pyongyang in an apparent attempt to irritate North Korea and use it as a pretext for his effort to impose martial rule in December 2024.

Drone infiltration accusations from North Korea coincided with Kim Jong-un’s declaration that inter-Korean relations are between “two states hostile to each other.”

The government of South Korean President Lee has been working to restore relations and reopen communication with North Korea since taking office in June.

According to experts, North Korea is reportedly solidifying its tough posture against Seoul in advance of a crucial party meeting that is scheduled for January or February. It is anticipated that the North would develop a five-year strategic plan that addresses the military, the economy, diplomacy, and other topics.At the party congress, North Korea is anticipated to incorporate the ‘two hostile states’ stance into its rules and regulations, and at a crucial parliamentary meeting in the first half, it will attempt to codify the revision of its constitution, according to Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.