[News Today] “S.Korea must explain drone incursion”

[LEAD]
A sudden setback has emerged in inter-Korean relations.

North Korea claims there were drone incursions from the South into its airspace.

Seoul says the incident had nothing to do with its military and that it will launch an investigation.

[REPORT]
"It is clear that a South Korean drone violated our airspace."

Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of North Korea's Workers' Party, issued a statement, as South Korea's defense ministry denied the North's claim that drones had been flown from the South, saying that they were not the models possessed by the South Korean military.

She demanded a detailed explanation about the drone incursion, no matter if it was carried out by the military or civilians.

N. Korean Central TV / Kim Yo-jong's statement
Whether a civilian organization or individuals did it, the government, which is in charge of national security, can't evade responsibility.

Regarding its announcement of its stance not to provoke North Korea, Kim said that the South Korean military made a wise choice and that it will face terrible consequences it will never be able to deal with if it opts for provocation.

She warned that South Korea will see a lot of UAVs sent by North Korean civilian organizations if the South argues that it was a deed by a civilian organization, which doesn't constitute a sovereignty infringement.

She also denounced South Korea as a gang of thugs and trash, marking the first time that such unreserved expressions have been used against Seoul since the Lee Jae Myung administration launched.

Kim's statement was also carried in news outlets seen by the North Korean people, indicating her intention to encourage public hostility toward South Korea and solidify Pyongyang's policy of defining the two Koreas as two hostile nations.

Prof. Lim Eul-chul / Inst. for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam Univ.
Internally, ahead of its party's congress, N. Korea needs to stress S. Korea as a hostile state, not one of the same ethnicity.

In response, Cheong Wa Dae reiterated that it has no intent of provoking North Korea, promising to find the truth and reveal the results quickly through a military-police joint investigation.

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