North Korean Drone
North Korea spy drone (Photo credit:The Defence Ministry/News1 via REUTERS)
When then President Harry Truman, stopped General MacArthur from crossing the 38th Parallel, it was seen by military leaders as a mistake. After all, North Korea was hell bent on spreading their communistic regime as far as they could. Still, others saw Truman’s decision as necessary to end the Korean War.
When the war ended, it resulted in an armistice between North and South Korea-not a peace treaty. Essentially, it was a “you don’t cross us we won’t cross you” kind of agreement. And up until recently, it has worked. But, given that South Korea has identified a drone that crashed earlier this month as belonging to North Korea, the war truce may be over.
On Wednesday, South Korean military officials confirmed that the drone, which crashed in the mountains near the Demilitarized Zone, did indeed belong to North Korea. A discovery that officials have called a “dangerous provocation.” Considering the growing tensions between the two countries, we would agree.
The drone was equipped with a camera that held aerial reconnaissance photos of the U.S. anti-missile defense system, located in a southern region of South Korea. The origin and flight path of the drone were confirmed in an analysis of the onboard computer and camera, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
“The intrusion of our airspace by the North Korean drone and photographing of a military base is a violation of the Armistice and an agreement on non-aggression and is an act of grave provocation,” Jeon Dong-jin, an official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff office said. “We strongly condemn the North’s continued attempts at penetrating the South with drones and once again, demand all acts of provocation are halted.”
Officials added that retaliation will be harsh if the North continues to agitate. “If North Korea continues to engage in acts of provocation against the South, our military will forcefully retaliate and we warn all responsibility for events occurring going forth is with the North.”
We can only pray now that Pyongyang heeds their warning.
