‘Drone spied on US anti-missile system’

N. Korea most urgent threat to security: Mattis

SEOUL, June 13, (RTRS): A suspected North Korean drone had taken photographs of an advanced US antimissile battery in South Korea before it crashed on its way home, the South Korean military said on Tuesday.

The drone, mounted with a camera, was found last week in a forest near the border with North Korea. It was similar in size and shape to a North Korean drone found in 2014 on an island near the border.

“We confirmed that it took about 10 photos,” of the anti-missile system, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a South Korean Defense Ministry official said by telephone.

The drone was suspected to be from North Korea, the official added.

South Korea is hosting the anti-missile defence system in the Seongju region, about 250 kms (155 miles) from the border with North Korea, to counter a growing missile threat from the North.

“We will come up with measures to deal with North Korean drones,” said an official at South Korea’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

North Korean drones are known to have flown over South Korea several times.

North Korea has about 300 unmanned aerial vehicles of different types including one designed for reconnaissance as well as combat drones, the United Nations said in a report last year.

Drones

The North Korean drones recovered in South Korea were probably procured through front companies in China, with parts manufactured in China, the Czech Republic, Japan and the United States, it added.

The neighbours are technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce and not a peace treaty.

South Korea and the United States agreed last year to deploy the THAAD unit in response to North Korea’s relentless development of its ballistic missiles, and nuclear weapons, in defiance of U.N. sanctions.

China strongly objects to the THAAD system saying its powerful radar can probe deep into its territory, undermining its security and upsetting a regional balance. China also says the system does nothing to deter North Korea.

South Korea and the United States say the system is aimed solely at defending against North Korean missiles.

In related news, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday that North Korea’s advancing missile and nuclear programs were the “most urgent” threat to national security and that its means to deliver them had increased in speed and scope.

“The regime’s nuclear weapons program is a clear and present danger to all, and the regime’s provocative actions, manifestly illegal under international law, have not abated despite United Nations’ censure and sanctions,” Mattis said in a written statement to the House Armed Services Committee.

“The most urgent and dangerous threat to peace and security is North Korea,” the statement added. “North Korea’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them has increased in pace and scope.”

Mattis, speaking before the panel, warned of the potential losses in the case of conflict with North Korea.