South Korea mobilized fighter jets, attack helicopters and fired warning shots on Monday after North Korean drones violated its airspace, Yonhap news agency reported, citing Reuters and Agerpres.

South Korea tracked drones that crossed the so-called Military Demarcation Line between the two countries from North Korea, Yonhap reported. South Korea’s transport ministry earlier said flights from South Korea’s Incheon and Gimpo airports were suspended at the request of the military.

The suspension began on August 13. (4:08 a.m. GMT) in Gimpo and at 1:22 p.m. in Incheon, and about an hour passed before dispatch resumed around 2:10 p.m. local time, a ministry official told Reuters.

The official did not provide further details about the suspension.

It is the first time North Korea has launched drones in the direction of its southern neighbor since 2017, when a North Korean drone believed to have been sent on a spying mission crashed and was discovered on a mountain near the border between the two countries. of the state

In 2014, a North Korean drone was also spotted on a South Korean island near the border.

New tensions between North and South Korea

The news agency News1 writes that during the latest incursion on Monday, at least one North Korean drone was able to reach a more southerly direction, flying over the capital Seoul.

In this sense, News1 quoted a source from the armed forces in Seoul, who wished to remain anonymous, adding that the South Korean forces tried to shoot down the drones, but it was not clear whether they succeeded in doing so or whether the drones were armed.

A defense ministry official in Seoul said the KA-1 crashed shortly after being sent to intercept the drones, but both pilots were able to eject and are in hospital.

The new incident comes amid heightened tensions between South Korea and the communist state to its north, when Seoul’s military deployed 80 fighter jets on November 4 after detecting around 180 North Korean warplanes near the border.