Electronic jamming signals from North Korea have affected scores of civilian flights in and out of South Korea, a Seoul official said yesterday, amid rising tensions with Pyongyang.
“We’ve confirmed the GPS [global positioning system] jamming signals have been stemming from the North,” said Lee Kyung-woo, a deputy director at the state Korea Communications Commission.
The transport ministry said the jamming had affected 252 flights since Saturday, but did not identify who was responsible.
North Korea has been accused before by Seoul of jamming GPS systems, but there was no previous widespread effect on civilian flights.
In recent weeks it has frequently threatened offensive action against South Korea, amid growing fears it may soon carry out a nuclear test following a failed rocket launch last month that sparked international criticism.
North Korea accused Seoul’s leaders of disrespect during Pyongyang’s celebrations last month of the centenary of the birth of founding leader Kim Il-sung.
A transport ministry statement said 241 flights by nine South Korean airlines and 11 flights operated by nine foreign airlines had been affected since Saturday last week. It said Seoul that day issued a warning notice for pilots and airlines.
Kim Choon-oh, a ministry director, said that GPS disruption was noticeable around Incheon airport, South Korea’s main international gateway.
“Authorities are tracing the origin,” he said. “Despite disruption in GPS, there is no serious threat to the safety of flights because planes are using other navigation devices.”
Kim said there was a brief effect on the GPS systems of civilian flights last year, “but this kind of widespread disruption is unusual.”
A spokesman for Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff declined to say whether the jamming was also directed against the military.
“There has been no problem in our military operations,” he said.
South Korea’s then-defense minister said in October 2010 that a North Korean jamming device capable of disrupting guided weapons posed a fresh threat to security.
Minister Kim Tae-young told parliament North Korea had imported Russian equipment to jam South Korea’s GPS reception and could achieve this effect over a distance of up to 100km.
Kim said North Korea was thought to have been responsible for the intermittent failure of GPS receivers on naval and civilian craft along the west coast from Aug. 23 to Aug. 25 that year.
In March last year South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said North Korea had used jamming equipment to block South Korean military communication devices.
It said the strong jamming signals had caused minor disruptions to phones and navigational devices using GPS at military units near Seoul.
The latest incidents did not endanger civilian flights, a senior official at the Seoul Regional Aviation Administration said on condition of anonymity.
“No aircraft has ever been in danger as they can use different systems such as INS [Inertial Navigation System] when GPS systems are disturbed,” the official said.
“There is absolutely no problem in air traffic control as we use radar for controlling aircraft,” he added.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the