South Korean fighter jets yesterday fired hundreds of warning shots and Japan complained to Moscow after a Russian military aircraft entered airspace claimed by both Seoul and Tokyo.
Seoul said three Russian military planes — two Tu-95 bombers and one A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft — entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone off its east coast before the A-50 intruded in South Korean airspace.
Seoul defense officials said the Russian reconnaissance aircraft left the area three minutes later, but later returned and entered its airspace again for four minutes.
Photo: Reuters / Joint Staff Office of the Japanese Ministry of Defense
The officials said they responded by scrambling F-15K and KF-16 jets, which first issued warnings and fired flares.
They fired 80 warning shots at the plane during the first breach and 280 rounds during the second, a military official said.
At one point, the South Korean and Russian warplanes were just 1km apart, the official added.
“We are assessing this incident in a very grave manner and will take a much tougher measure if it happens again,” National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong said, according to a presidential Blue House spokeswoman.
Japan complained to both Moscow and Seoul over the incursion.
“We learned that Russian military planes flying over the Sea of Japan this morning twice violated our airspace near Takeshima,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular press conference.
“Based on this knowledge, we made strong protests,” he said.
Suga, who said Japan also scrambled military jets, added that South Korea’s response was “extremely regrettable.”
However, the Blue House said the disputed islets were an “integral part” of South Korean territory “historically, geographically and under international law.”
Russia denied any breaches, saying that Seoul’s complaint was based on an “arbitrarily established” air defense identification zone that Moscow did not recognize.
“It was not the first time that South Korean pilots tried to unsuccessfully interfere with the flights of the Russian aviation forces above the neutral waters of the Sea of Japan,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
“Such ‘zones’ are recognized by neither international law nor Russia,” it said, adding that Moscow had repeatedly informed Seoul about it.
Russia later released a separate statement, saying Russian and Chinese long-range planes had staged a “first joint patrol mission in the Asia-Pacific region” to “deepen and develop Russian-Chinese relations.”
“Both countries acted in strict accordance with international law,” the ministry said in the statement, adding that the event was “not aimed against third countries.”
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said that South Korea’s air defense identification zone is not a territorial airspace and all countries enjoy freedom of movement there.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS