N. Korea threatens to attack Baengnyeongdo, claiming drone flew from the island

“If there is a recurrence of sovereignty violations against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the origin of South Korea’s recent provocation will be wiped out by our attacks,” North Korea said on Monday. The threat against a South Korean location was based on the North’s claim that Baengnyeongdo Island in the Yellow Sea was the origin of the drone that crashed in Pyongyang earlier this month. It is the first time in a decade that North Korea has directly mentioned the “origin strike” since 2014. Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, also hinted at a possible drone provocation, saying, “I wonder how the packs of wild dogs in Seoul would bark if an unmanned aerial vehicle released propaganda leaflets in Seoul.”

On the same day, a North Korean Defense Ministry spokesperson claimed that the flight control module of the crashed drone was disassembled to analyze its flight plan and flight history data, and that the drone, which took off from Baengnyeongdo Island at 23:25:30 on October 8, released ‘political propaganda filth’ over the Defense Ministry building in Pyongyang the following day.

The South Korean military dismissed the North’s claims as “unworthy of a response” and warned that it would take “retaliatory measures if a North Korean drone infiltrates the country.” The military is weighing the possibility that the drone incident was self-fabricated by North Korea.

The South Korean military believes that North Korea may have used the drone infiltration as an excuse to threaten provocations targeting northwest islands, including Baengnyeongdo Island, which are close to the Yellow Sea’s Northern Limit Line (NLL). “Like the Bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010, the North threatened to launch a large-scale surprise artillery attack on Baengnyeongdo Island at any time,” a military official said.


Jin-Woo Shin niceshin@donga.com