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Park Chan-kyong

An apparent communication breakdown between US and South Korean militaries led South Korean troops to train their weapons on an American drone launched during a joint exercise on Thursday, triggering an evacuation alert near the inter-Korean border.
The incident highlights the need for a comprehensive review of the allies’ command-and-control coordination, operational procedures, air defence capabilities and troop training, according to military experts.
The near-friendly-fire episode was reminiscent of a brief aerial stand-off involving US and Chinese fighter jets over the Yellow Sea in February, which prompted protests from Seoul about US Forces Korea (USFK) reportedly failing to share details of the exercise with the South Korean government.
Thursday’s incident involved a US Marine Corps reconnaissance drone taking part in a joint drill with the South Korean Marines. During the exercise, both sides launched drones to verify if live-fire strikes had accurately hit their targets.
The US drone had taken off from a firing range on the banks of the Imjin River in Paju, one of the training grounds closest to the inter-Korean border. It was flying at an altitude of about 150 metres (700 feet), a level that requires prior notification to the South Korean Army’s Ground Operations Command.

Local media reported that the US military had informed South Korean authorities of the exercise and later sent an official document detailing the drone operation. However, this information was not forwarded through the military chain of command, leaving frontline commanders unaware of the flight.
As a result, personnel at a South Korean military outpost in northern Gyeonggi province initially mistook the “unidentified” aircraft for a North Korean one and acted according to standard operating procedures, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Authorities also issued an emergency alert in Cheorwon county, about 80km (50 miles) northeast of Seoul near the border, advising residents to take shelter as a precaution. The army later sent messages saying the situation had been resolved.
“It was later confirmed that the aircraft was a US drone participating in a military exercise,” the ministry said.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff have launched an investigation, with its readiness inspection office set to visit the army’s 1st Corps to review the handling of the incident, it said on Friday.
USFK said the US Marine Corps was also looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident, “including the coordination process”.
“We are conducting our own investigation and fully cooperating with the Republic of Korea military to establish the facts,” it said on Friday.
Need to communicate
Lee Il-woo, an analyst at the Korea Defence Network, said the roughly 90-minute confusion highlighted the need to overhaul South Korea’s air defence system, particularly its ability to respond to incursions by unmanned aircraft.
“South Korea’s air defence radars and other surveillance assets lack the screen resolution needed to reliably identify drones and other small flying objects,” Lee said. “Rigid, multilayered command-and-control systems for air defence operations also hamper swift responses to aerial incursions.”
Frontline troops responsible for visually identifying aircraft were also not sufficiently trained, he added.
In 2022, five North Korean drones crossed the inter-Korean military demarcation line into Gyeonggi province, with one flying over northern Seoul before returning north or disappearing from radar. The incursion prompted South Korea to scramble fighter jets and attack helicopters, which ultimately failed to shoot the drones down.
“South Korea needs to build a new air defence radar system capable of providing 360-degree surveillance through multiple sensor arrays to prevent future drone incursions from the North,” Lee said.

Military authorities declined to provide further details, including whether the drone had entered the sensitive no-fly zone established under the now-suspended 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.
The zone was created under former liberal president Moon Jae-in’s administration to reduce the risk of unintended clashes with North Korea along the heavily fortified border. It prohibits aircraft and drones from operating within 15km of the demilitarised zone in the eastern sector and 10km in the western sector. The agreement was later suspended as inter-Korean relations deteriorated.
President Lee Jae Myung’s government has sought to restore the no-fly zone, but little progress has been made amid frozen inter-Korean ties. The US is also sceptical about reinstating the arrangement, arguing that it could weaken surveillance of the North, although South Korea’s military currently does not conduct drone flights or training within 10km of the military demarcation line.
The latest incident exposed shortcomings in operational coordination between the allies, said Doo Jin-ho, director of the Eurasia Centre at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.
“It is highly likely that the operational details of the US drone flight were not properly shared with the South Korean side,” he said, noting that authorities had issued a durumi level alert warning local air defence unit to prepare for a possible shootdown.
“If incidents like this are repeated, they could deepen mistrust between the two allies.”


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Incidents like this could ‘deepen mistrust’ between the allies, experts say, urging a comprehensive review to avoid it recurring


Incidents like this could ‘deepen mistrust’ between the allies, experts say, urging a comprehensive review to avoid it recurring.


South Korea almost shoots down US Marine drone after communication failure

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Incidents like this could ‘deepen mistrust’ between the allies, experts say, urging a comprehensive review to avoid it recurring

Incidents like this could ‘deepen mistrust’ between the allies, experts say, urging a comprehensive review to avoid it recurring