SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the two countries this week and warned that South Korea would face consequences. North Korea’s military said Saturday that the move would not go unanswered, calling South Korea’s reaction “unpardonable hysteria,” according to a statement carried by state media.
South Korea quickly denied the accusation. The South Korean Defense Ministry said it did not operate drones during the times specified by North Korea and also said it does not possess the types of drones North Korea claimed were used.
North Korea said its forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. In the statement carried by state media, the General Staff of the North’s Korean People’s Army said the drone had two cameras that filmed unspecified areas.
North Korea also said South Korea infiltrated another drone into North Korean airspace on Sept. 27 before it was forced to crash after electronic strikes. North Korea said authorities later found the drone contained video data on major objects in North Korea.
In the same statement, North Korea said South Korea’s actions were “hooligans’ serial outrageous encroachment upon our sovereignty and undisguised provocative acts against us.” It added that the “ROK military warmongers will be surely forced to pay a dear price for their unpardonable hysteria.”
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it will investigate whether civilians flew the drones found in North Korea. A senior ministry official, Kim Hong-Cheol, said South Korea has no intentions of provoking North Korea and will continue efforts to build trust between the Koreas.
The drone dispute comes as President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June, has pushed to reopen talks with North Korea and reconcile the rivals. North Korea has “steadfastly rebuffed” Lee’s overtures, with North Korea refusing to engage while ties have remained frozen for years.
Lee said Wednesday he asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to serve as a mediator during recent summit-related efforts to ease animosities between the two Koreas, and Xi called for patience.
North Korea has shunned talks with South Korea and the United States since leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear diplomacy with Donald Trump fell apart in 2019, amid wrangling over U.S.-led sanctions. The account said North Korea has since focused on building more powerful nuclear weapons and declared a hostile “two-state” system on the Korean Peninsula to terminate relations with South Korea.
Drone flights have been a recurring source of animosity between the two Koreas, with each accusing the other of sending drones into its territory in recent years. In October 2024, North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets three times, and South Korea’s military said it couldn’t confirm whether the claim was true. Tensions rose sharply at the time after North Korea threatened to respond with force, but neither side took any major action and tensions later subsided.
South Korea has also accused North Korea of occasionally flying drones over South Korea. In December 2022, South Korea said it fired warning shots, scrambled fighter jets, and flew surveillance drones in response to what it called North Korea’s first drone flights across the border in five years.