A spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army made public a statement on January 9 under the title "The Republic of Korea Should Be Ready to Pay a High Price for Having Committed Another Provocation of Infringing on the Sovereignty of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with a Drone".

The statement said the Republic of Korea committed another grave infringement upon the sovereignty of the DPRK by making its drone violate the DPRK's airspace from the outset of the year, and continued:

On January 4, the Korean People's Army sub-units on duty for border air surveillance detected and tracked an air target moving northward in the sky over the area of Hado-ri, Songhae-myon, Kanghwa County of Inchon City. They tactically allowed it to fly 8 kilometres into the DPRK's airspace and struck it with special electronic warfare assets and forced it to fall to a place 1,200 metres away from Height 101.5 in Muksan-ri, Kaephung District of Kaesong Municipality.

Relevant intelligence and specialized investigation organs took away the remains of the fallen drone to analyze its flight plan, flight history and video data. According to the analysis result, the drone, which took off in an area of Kanghwa County, Inchon City of the Republic of Korea, at around 12:50 on January 4, was set to film the DPRK's major objects while flying a total distance of 156 kilometres at the height of 100 to 300 metres at the speed of 50 kilometres an hour for three hours and ten minutes, entering Kaephung District of Kaesong Municipality and the areas of Phyongsan and Kumchon counties of North Hwanghae Province under the DPRK's territory and then returning to Joksong-myon, Phaju City, Kyonggi Province of the Republic of Korea, via Kaephung and Phanmun districts and Jangphung County of Kaesong Municipality.

The two cameras of the drone before its crash had videos of the DPRK's areas recorded for 6 minutes and 59 seconds, and 6 minutes and 58 seconds. The relevant video data are a clear proof that the drone violated the territorial air of the DPRK for surveillance and reconnaissance of its area.

Even after the change of a regime of hooligans in Seoul, the Republic of Korea has continued to commit such acts of provocation by drones near the border. The enemy's drone, which took off in the area of Joksong-myon, Phaju City, Kyonggi Province of the Republic of Korea, at around 11:15 on September 27 last year, was dropped by the electronic strike by the special military technology means of our 2nd Corps to a paddy field in the area of Sasi-ri, Jangphung County of Kaesong Municipality at around 14:25 while returning via Kaesong Municipality after infiltrating into the sky above Phyongsan County, North Hwanghae Province of the DPRK.

Like the recently crashed drone, the then fallen drone was a small fixed-wing drone, a clear surveillance and reconnaissance means capable of flying at the height of less than 500 metres for a maximum of six hours and of capturing ground objects with a high-resolution optical camera tipped at the bottom of its body.

Its communication and navigation mode, flight plan, flight history, video data, etc., go to prove that the drone conducted an air reconnaissance and was specially made for it. Recorded on the camera of the then drone was 5-hour and 47-minute video data on major objects of our region.

Those drones freely passed through the sky over the area, where the ROK army has intensively deployed various radars for detecting low-altitude targets and anti-drone equipment, after making a daytime takeoff in a sensitive frontline area of the Republic of Korea where civilian access is strictly prohibited. The fact makes it easy to guess who is behind the drones' infiltration. The Republic of Korea is the enemy, the most hostile towards us, that remains unchanged in its nature and it is the target to be certainly destroyed by us if it attacks.

The international community should clearly understand who is the root cause of escalating tension on the Korean peninsula and inviting the danger of armed conflict. We strongly denounce the hooligans for their serial outrageous encroachment upon our sovereignty and undisguised provocative acts against us and seriously warn the ROK authorities who revealed once again their black-hearted intention to have a showdown with us.

The ROK military warmongers will be surely forced to pay a dear price for their unpardonable hysteria. The ROK authorities can never evade the responsibility for escalating tension, the statement added.