North Korean Drone Reportedly Spying on U.S. Anti-Missile System

On Tuesday, June 13, a North Korean drone allegedly surveilled on United States functions regarding its advanced anti-missile battery in South Korea.  According to the South Korean military, the drone had taken photographs of the anti-missile system before crashing on the ground during its return back to the North.  Mounted with a camera, the drone was found in a forest close to the North Korean border last week.  It bears the similar size and shape of another North Korean drone found in 2014.

A South Korean Defense Ministry official says that, “[It is] confirmed that it took about 10 photos [of the anti-missile battery].”  The system is known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).

With the United States anti-missile defense system ready, South Korea intends to deploy it in the Seongju region, 250 kilometers from the North Korean border, to combat the increasing missile threat from the North.  “We will come up with measures to deal with North Korean drones,” says an official at South Korea’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  With North Korean drones having flown over South Korea many times before, the North possess about 300 drones designed for reconnaissance and combat.

Later that day, a North Korean soldier crossed the North Korean border into the South, braving a heavily mined field known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).  Although crossing across the border are unusual, they are not unseen.  An average 1,000 North Koreans cross the border each year into South Korea from a journey throughout China.  The most recent crossing by a North Korean across the Demilitarized Zone was in September of 2016.

Reuters reports that, “South Korea and the United States agreed last year to deploy the THAAD unit in response to North Korea’s relentless development of its ballistic missiles, and nuclear weapons, in defiance of U.N. sanctions.  China strongly objects to the THAAD system saying its powerful radar can probe deep into its territory, undermining its security and upsetting a regional balance.  China also says the system does nothing to deter North Korea.”

Regardless, South Korea and the United States say that the THAAD system is aimed only at the North, defending against the growing missile threat.