Drones flying over Pyongyang

North Korea threatened Saturday in a speech by Kim Yo Jong, vice chairwoman of the Workers' Party of Korea, that “A terrible catastrophe will surely occur the moment a South Korean drone is spotted again over our capital.” On Friday, North Korea released a ‘major statement by the foreign ministry’ along with related photos, alleging that South Korean drones had infiltrated Pyongyang and dropped leaflets for North Koreans on three recent occasions. Then, as South Korea's military responded that it could not “confirm‎ whether (the allegations) are the facts” and warned North Korea not to act rashly, the North Korean leader's sister repeated the threat.

The fact that North Korea even admitted that the air defense of the capital city of Pyongyang had been breached three times is an indication of the shock and embarrassment the North Korean leadership must have felt at the drone infiltration. If the drone were carrying bombs rather than leaflets for North Koreans, it would be a serious concern even for Kim Jong Un's safety. North Korea immediately publicized the incident, even to its citizens, and is using it as a propaganda tool to stir up North Koreans’ hostility to justify Kim's declaration to the South of the two Koreas as ‘two hostile nations.’ North Korea's strategy is apparently to emphasize external threats even by exposing its weaknesses to prevent internal agitation.

It is also inevitable that the South Korean military and government will maintain strategic ambiguity. If it is confirmed that the drone was sent by the South, regardless of whether it is our military, government agencies, or private organizations, it will lead to unnecessary controversy. Covert operations by our military or government agencies should never be revealed, and even if it is a private organization if it is confirmed, it will expose the conflict within the South over not only whether our government or military knew about it or not, but also the direction of future responses. Therefore, Seoul should confuse Pyongyang in its response to South Korea by raising the possibility that the attack could have been carried out by some forces inside North Korea.

On the other hand, it is worth reflecting on whether the government properly controls the inter-Korean tensions. When asked by lawmakers about the breaking news during the National Assembly's inspection of the government over national security on Friday, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun first denied it, saying, “We never did that,” only to issue an official response an hour later saying, “We can't confirm‎ it.” While freedom of expression‎ is important, we cannot turn a blind eye to the activities of private organizations that could lead to armed conflict. At the very least, we need to keep a close eye on their activities so that we can respond properly in the event of an emergency.