South Korean authorities summon a civilian over alleged drone flights toward North Korea

South Korean army soldiers patrol the DMZ Peace Trail in the demilitarized zone in Goseong, South Korea, Friday, June 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean authorities have summoned a civilian to investigate if the person sent drones toward North Korea, police said Friday, days after North Korea threatened responses to what it called drone flights from South Korea.

North Korea’s military said on Saturday that it used electronic warfare assets to bring down a South Korean drone earlier this month and another last September. It said it found the drones had video data on sites in North Korea and warned that South Korea “will pay a dear price.”

South Korea dismissed the accusation but launched an investigation team to find if civilians launched the drones discovered in North Korea.

On Friday, South Korea’s national police agency said a military-police joint task force summoned a civilian suspect and was investigating the person. It gave no further details.

The alleged drone flights came as South Korea’s liberal government led by President Lee Jae Myung was pushing hard to reopen long-dormant talks with North Korea and restore reconciliation between the rivals.

After the North Korean accusation, Lee called for a thorough probe and said civilians flying drones across the border was “a grave crime” that threatens national security and peace on the Korean Peninsula. Lee’s office also said South Korea has no intentions of provoking North Korea.

But North Korea has ramped up its pressure on South Korea. In a statement Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called on South Korea to apologize over the case and derided Seoul’s reported hopes for better ties as “wild dreams” that “can never come true.”

Many experts say North Korea likely aims to promote anti-South Korea sentiments among its public ahead of the upcoming ruling Workers’ Party congress, likely set for later in January or February. They say North Korea could add leader Kim’s 2024 declaration of a hostile “two-state” system on the Korean Peninsula in the constitution of the Workers’ Party during the congress, the first of its kind in five years.

North Korea has refused to engage in talks with South Korea and the U.S. since Kim Jong Un’s nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump broke down in 2019. North Korea has since focused on expanding its nuclear arsenal. Kim has also taken steps to strengthen ties with Russia and China in recent years.

Drone flights are a source of animosity between the two Koreas, which are split along a heavily fortified border.

North Korea accused South Korea in October 2024 of flying drones over its capital, Pyongyang, to drop propaganda leaflets. South Korea also has accused North Korea of occasionally flying drones over South Korea. In December 2022, South Korea fired warning shots, scrambled fighter jets and flew surveillance drones over North Korea in response to what it called North Korea’s first drone flights across the border in five years.

Hyung-jin Kim, The Associated Press