North Korea says South Korean drone entered its airspace on January 4

North Korea said on Saturday that South Korea flew another drone into its airspace on January 4, infringing on its sovereignty, according to state media KCNA.

The announcement, which comes before North Korea holds a key party congress that will lay out policies for the next five years, sets the stage for cementing leader Kim Jong Un's rhetoric that South Korea is a foreign and hostile nation, an analyst said.

The drone, which originated from an island in the South Korean city of Incheon, flew 8 km (5 miles) before it was shot down inside North Korean airspace, KCNA said, citing a spokesperson for the North Korean military.

The drone was equipped with surveillance cameras to record "major" North Korean facilities, KCNA said. Photos on KCNA showed a drone salvaged in pieces, electronic parts and aerial photos of buildings that KCNA said the drone had taken.

KCNA said the incident follows a September incursion by another South Korean drone that was shot over Kaesong.

"Even after the change of a regime... (South Korea) has continued to commit such acts of provocation by drones near the border," KCNA said, calling South Korea its "enemy most hostile".

Since South Korean President Lee Jae Myung took office in June, North Korea has rebuffed conciliatory gestures from Lee's administration. Lee had pledged to re-engage with Pyongyang to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea "can never evade the responsibility for escalating tension" and will be "forced to pay a dear price" KCNA said.

A South Korean government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TIMING RAISES QUESTIONS

The drone and electronics parts shown by North Korean state media are low-cost consumer products, and the captured video it revealed are of areas that do not have particular information value or military targets, said North Korean expert Hong Min at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

"The South Korean military already has a number of high-value assets that can clearly monitor the area near the armistice line," Hong said, making it unlikely that it was the work of the South Korean military.

The timing of North Korea's mention of the drones is notable, as it comes just before North Korea's 9th Party Congress expected to be held soon.

Kim Jong Un's rhetoric of deeming the relationship between the two Koreas as two hostile countries, first introduced in 2024, is expected to be cemented further at the congress and may be put into North Korea's constitution this year, Hong said.

North Korea previously accused South Korea of sending a drone over Pyongyang in October 2024.

South Korea's former President Yoon Suk Yeol was accused by Seoul's special prosecutor late last year of ordering the Pyongyang drone operation to use military tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul as a justification for declaring emergency martial law.

Yoon has denied the charge, with his legal counsel saying the performance of the president's duties cannot be framed as a crime after the fact.

-Joyce Lee/Reuters