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S Korea finds third suspected N Korean drone - Yonhap

6 April 2014, 12:21 -- South Korea found the third suspected North Korean drone on a mountain on the east coast, officials said Sunday, in what could be the latest in a series of border incursions by North Korea's unmanned spy aircraft. A suspected North Korean drone is the third such discovery in South Korea in less than a month.

South Korean soldiers found the crashed drone on a mountain in Samcheok, 290 kilometers east of Seoul, earlier in the day after three local residents informed the military that they had seen the unmanned aircraft on Oct. 4, defense ministry officials said, according to Yonhap News Agency.

One of the residents, identified by his family name Lee, told the military he found a Canon camera near the crash site on Oct. 4 and later discarded it after using the memory chip that he claims contained photos of a beach near the mountain.

The drone's appearance is identical to the one found in Paju, a city near the heavily fortified inter-Korean border, on March 24, according the defense ministry.

South Korea has found two other North Korean drones in recent weeks, in particular, one of them was discovered on Baengnyeong Island near the tense western maritime border and another in Paju. The drone discovered in Paju was found to contain photos of military installations and the residential quarters of Seoul's presidential compound.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it will take legal and military actions over the North's violation of its airspace if the drones are found to have come from the country, without elaborating on what it meant by legal and military actions against the North.

It also said it will mobilize all units across the country to search for other drones that may have crashed in South Korea.

The defense ministry added that it will hold a meeting of major commanding officers on Monday to discuss how to deal with the issue.

The three drones had apparently flown over South Korea undetected for months, sparking new security concerns over North Korea's spy capabilities. South Korea is scrambling to plug gaps in its air defenses.

The South Korean military said it is considering purchasing advanced low-altitude surveillance radar and anti-aircraft guns to better guard against drone infiltrations.

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_04_06/S-Korea- finds-third-suspected-N-Korean-drone-Yonhap-0939/