Uncovering the Truth: Did South Korea’s Intelligence Agency Sponsor Drone Flights to North Korea?

Photo: YONHAP News

Anchor: South Korean investigators have launched raids on the country’s state intelligence agency and a military intelligence unit, probing alleged drone flights into North Korea. Officials say they’re investigating whether government insiders may have backed key suspects in these cross-border incursions.
Our correspondent Kim Bum-soo has the details.

Report: A joint task force of military and law enforcement personnel is stepping up its investigation into claims that civilians, potentially linked to the previous administration, operated surveillance drones across the DMZ into North Korean airspace.

On Tuesday, the task force dispatched investigators to 18 locations, including the National Intelligence Service (NIS) headquarters and the Korea Defense Intelligence Command.

The probe is centered on whether the three civilian suspects accused of piloting drones into the North received support from within South Korea’s intelligence or military establishments.

Sources indicate that investigators are scrutinizing three active-duty military officers and an NIS employee suspected of involvement in these drone operations.

The investigation has uncovered evidence of financial transactions between another NIS administrative staff member and a key suspect – a graduate student in their 30s.

Last week, authorities brought in the administrative employee for questioning.

The probe was initiated earlier this year after President Lee Jae Myung ordered a comprehensive investigation in response to Pyongyang’s claims of shooting down these drones in September and again in January.

As North Korea accuses the Lee administration of an act of war, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young informed lawmakers last month that the investigation is focusing on potential involvement from what he described as remnants of the former Yoon Suk Yeol government.

Investigators have revealed that two of the primary suspects held short-term positions at the presidential office in 2022.
This is Kim Bum-soo, reporting for KBS World Radio News.