A North Korean Mig-19 fighter jet violated South Korean air space on Thursday, prompting South Korean fighters to scramble, military officials said.
”The North Korean fighter flew into our air space over Yonpyong island in the Yellow Sea near where a naval clash with North Korea occurred last year and flew back two minutes later,” said an official with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
”Our fighters on duty were immediately scrambled.”
The incident happened at 10:03 am (0103 GMT), he said. Two South Korean F-5E fighters were scrambled immediatley and four more were airborne soon after.
The official said South Korean missile batteries on the west coast were put on alert.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said it was the first reported air space violated by a North Korean jet since 1983.
North Korean and South Korean naval vessels fought a gunbattle in the Yellow Sea in June last year in which five South Korean sailors died. The two sides are still technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice agreement but not a peace treaty.
North Korea disputes the sea border between the two countries known as the Northern Limit Line (NLL). In November, in the same area of the Yellow Sea, a South Korean naval vessel fired warning shots at a North Korean naval patrol boat that entered South Korean waters. – Sapa-AFP