Lawmaker says Russian, Chinese warplanes make dozens of incursions into Kadiz

Chinese and Russian warplanes have conducted between 70 and 90 incursions into Korea's air defense identification zone (Kadiz) annually since 2019, a conservative lawmaker said Thursday.

Chinese military aircraft take part in an air drill on Nov. 30, 2022, when two Russian and six Chinese warplanes entered Korea’s air defense identification zone during a joint exercise. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Chinese and Russian warplanes have conducted between 70 and 90 incursions into Korea's air defense identification zone (Kadiz) annually since 2019, a conservative lawmaker said Thursday.

According to military reports cited by Rep. Shin Won-sik, a member of the People Power Party (PPP), Chinese military aircraft have flown into the Kadiz around 70 times yearly between 2020 and 2022 and 25 times thus far this year, while Russian warplanes intruded into the zone on 10 to 20 occasions in the same timeframe and twice so far this year.

Annual joint exercises by the two countries' air forces used to enter the Kadiz a single time between 2019 and 2021, but last year's joint exercise entered the zone twice.

An air defense identification zone typically includes the territorial airspace of a country in addition to a wider area over land and water where a country tries to identify, locate and control incoming aircraft in the interest of national security.

Such zones are not defined by international law and are usually declared unilaterally. They often extend beyond a country’s territory to give the country more time to respond to possibly hostile aircraft.

The Korean Defense Ministry lodged a protest with both China and Russia on Wednesday, a day after the two countries’ military aircraft entered the Kadiz for about an hour before leaving the area.

The joint entry by four Chinese and four Russian military aircraft forced the Korean Air Force to immediately scramble fighter jets to the scene.

Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered the Kadiz from the south and east between 11:52 a.m. and 1:49 p.m. on Tuesday before completely departing the zone.

The JCS said that there had been no prior notice from the countries and that their aircraft didn’t violate Korea's air space, but that one of the Chinese pilots had responded to requests for identification by merely replying that they were “conducting a drill.”

Lee Seung-beom, director general for international policy at the ministry, phoned the military attaches at the Chinese and Russian embassies in Seoul separately on Wednesday to express regret over the Kadiz incursion.

“The defense ministry expressed regrets to the two countries over the flight in sensitive areas close to our air space,” the Defense Ministry said in a press release.

The ministry also called on the two countries’ militaries to take “appropriate measures” to prevent a recurrence, warning that such exercises could exacerbate regional tensions.

A South Korean military official who spoke on condition of anonymity to reporters said that the purpose of Chinese and Russian joint exercises, and incursions into the Kadiz, could be “to test the readiness of the Korean Air Force, as well as to collect information on various weapons systems and communication signals.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]