Kim Yo Jong, deputy department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, issued the following press statement "The ROK authorities cannot evade their responsibility for the grave violation of our sovereignty" on January 10:

On January 10, the ROK Ministry of Defence repeatedly stressed that the recent drone infiltration was not a military operation and expressed its will to thoroughly investigate the possibility of a civilian deed. We pay attention to the publication of such stand.

I, personally, appreciate that the ROK Ministry of Defence took a wise choice for survival when it made pubic its official stand never to provoke or irritate us.

If the ROK opts for provocation against us again in the future, it will never be able to deal with the terrible consequences to be entailed by it.

The present authorities of Seoul are not entitled to treat the past case of drone infiltration into Pyongyang, committed by the former rouge Yoon regime, as other's deed.

Which regime committed the case is a matter of debate within the same family. To us, the case is a grave infringement upon the DPRK's inviolable sovereignty committed by the ROK, no matter whether Yoon or Ree did.

Fortunately, the ROK's military expressed an official stand that it was not done by itself and that it has no intention to provoke or irritate us. But a detailed explanation should be made about the actual case of a drone that crossed the southern border of our Republic from the ROK.

Now in the ROK there exists an attempt to gloss the grave border-crossing infiltration as a "civilian case", alongside the assertion that "the drone was composed of low-cost conventional components that can be easily purchased" and "it is a type sold for recreational, commercial and industrial purposes." But the essence of the situation lies not in whether its manipulator is from the military or civilians.

We don't care whether it is a type that can be easily purchased and made or not, whether it is for military use or civilian use, whether its parts are low-cost or high-cost ones, and whether it is a military or civilian deed, as that is not what we want to know.

Clear is just the fact that the drone from the ROK violated the airspace of our country.

It is undeniable that video data collected by the drone are related to the uranium mine and its settling pond, the former Kaesong industrial zone and our border guard posts, which they may have interest in. Furthermore, there actually existed the flight plan and records in the drone. This requires explicit explanation.

Given their assertion that it is not a military drone, it seems that they are seeking to argue that it is not a sovereignty violation.

No matter who is the perpetrator and whether it is a deed by any civilian organization or individual, the authorities responsible for national security can never evade their responsibility for it.

The ROK military once bragged about "real-time drone detection and response system based on latest technology", "multi-layer defence system based on the cooperation between citizens, government, military and police" and "dense anti-air defence network". They are insisting they were "ignorant" of the flying object crossing the border at a low altitude after taking off in broad daylight in an area near the border with our country. This is really unreasonable and will invite criticism from their population.

The ROK already earned a "reputation" for its sheer impudence and unreasonable insistence when it committed a provocation by infiltrating a drone into the sky above Pyongyang in 2024.

The ROK authorities can never evade the responsibility for infringing upon our sovereignty and are well advised to seriously consider a dear price for it.

If they brand it as a deed of a civilian organization and then try to assert a theory that it is not an infringement upon the sovereignty, they will see a lot of UAVs flown by civilian organizations within DPRK territory.

Anyhow, the recent drone infiltration helped us have a clearer understanding of the ROK, a group of hooligans and wastes, once again.

KCNA