S. Korea fires warning shots as Russian aircraft violates its airspace

Jul 24, 2019, 09:22 am

By AsiaToday reporters Hong Sun-mi & Lee Jang-won & Woo Sung-min

Following Chinese and Russian military aircraft’s entry into South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without prior notice on Tuesday, a Russian warplane violated South Korea’s airspace near Dokdo twice. It is the first time that a Russian military plane has invaded the South Korean airspace. Many analysts say that China and Russia staged an armed protest against joint drills between the United States and South Korea scheduled for next month. The South Korean government immediately summoned Russian and Chinese ambassadors to file a protest and warned that it would take strong countermeasures if there is a recurrence of such violation.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced that two Chinese military planes and three Russian military aircraft entered the KADIZ, and one of the Russian planes violated South Korean airspace twice near Dokdo, prompting the Republic of Korea Air Force to fire warning shots.

The Russian A-50 early warning plane violated Korean airspace twice at 9:09 am and 9:33 a.m., flying into the airspace for seven minutes. The Air Force instantly deployed multiple jets, including F-15Ks and F-16Ks, and sent warning messages to the Russian aircraft. But the aircraft did not respond, so one of the South Korean aircraft fired some 10 rounds of flares and 360 warning shots.

Before the airspace infringement took place, two Chinese bombers flew into KADIZ at 6:44 a.m. from northwest of South Korea’s Ieodo. They temporarily left KADIZ and re-entered the air defense zone at 7:14 a.m. from the south of the eastern island of Ulleung. At 8:20 a.m., they left the zone heading northward. Then they joined two TU-95 Russian bombers to re-enter KADIZ twenty minutes later.

The JCS officials said it was the first time that a Russian warplane violated South Korea’s airspace and South Korea fired warning shots in response. It was also the first time that Russian and Chinese aircraft entered KADIZ simultaneously.

Cheong Wa Dae immediately protested against the joint aerial provocation of Russia and China, which was suggestive of the ROK invasion exercise. Chung Eui-yong, director of Cheong Wa Dae’s National Security Office, sent a message of strong protest to Nikolai Patrusheve, Secretary of the Security Council of Russia. “We take the situation very seriously. We will take even stronger action if it is repeated,” Chung said, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung.

The foreign ministry summoned Chinese Ambassador Qiu Guohong and Russian Deputy Chief of Mission Maxim Volkov to lodge a stern protest and strongly urge them to prevent a recurrence. The defense ministry also summoned Chinese and Russian military attachés respectively to protest. In particular, the defense ministry warned that it will take strong countermeasures while opening all possibilities in case of a recurrence of Russian warplane’s violation of Korea’s airspace.

The government is arranging follow-up measures while identifying the purpose of their joint flight and intentions behind the series of breaches. China and Russia are recently moving to jointly respond to the military cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan and the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy. Amid the deepening South Korea-Japan conflict over Tokyo’s trade restrictions on Seoul, the strong and precise response of the government is required as there is a possibility of a collision in the Korean Peninsula between the two powers – South Korea, the US, and Japan vs. China and Russia.

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