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\nNorth Korea claimed Saturday it had discovered the remains of at least one crashed South Korean military drone in the capital Pyongyang, releasing images of the device that some analysts confirmed was South Korean.
The nuclear-armed North recently accused Seoul of using drones to drop anti-regime propaganda leaflets on the capital.
Pyongyang\u2019s defense ministry spokesman said security authorities found the remains of a crashed drone during a search of the North Korean capital on October 13, the official KCNA news agency reported.
The North\u2019s investigation \u201cscientifically proved that the drone came from the ROK,\u201d the unnamed spokesman said, using South Korea\u2019s official acronym.
South Korea\u2019s military initially denied sending drones, but has subsequently declined to comment.
\u201cThere is no value in verifying or responding to North Korea\u2019s unilateral claims,\u201d it said in a brief statement Saturday.
North Korea has previously warned it would consider it \u201ca declaration of war\u201d if another drone was detected.
The North Korean official claimed the drone was of the same type as a vehicle-mounted drone publicly displayed by the South Korean military during an Armed Forces Day event in Seoul on October 1 last year.
KCNA released several images of what it claimed was the recovered drone, including one showing it lodged in a tree and others featuring North Koreans who appeared to be officials.
Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said that based on the images released by the North, the drone was \u201cclearly a long-range reconnaissance small drone used by \u2026 the South Korean military\u201d.
\u201cIt is the same model that our military showcased during the Armed Forces Day event last year,\u201d he told AFP.
Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said if the North\u2019s allegations are true, it could mean the South \u201chad been conducting reconnaissance (in the North) with military drones.\u201d
But the North Korean official appeared to slightly amend Pyongyang\u2019s previous claim that the South used the drones to drop propaganda leaflets over the North Korean capital.
\u201cIt is quite likely that the drone is the one which scattered leaflets over the centre of Pyongyang Municipality,\u201d he said, but added: \u201cBut the conclusion has not yet been drawn.
Relations between the two sides have deteriorated since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in January defined Seoul as his country\u2019s \u201cprincipal enemy\u201d and said the North was no longer interested in reunification.
The latest developments came a day after South Korea\u2019s spy agency said Pyongyang had decided to send a \u201clarge-scale\u201d troop deployment to support Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine, with 1,500 special forces already in Russia\u2019s Far East and undergoing training.
\u201cNorth Korea is currently sending elite troops to Russia and providing weapons,\u201d analyst Hong said, noting that Pyongyang now needs to better manage its internal military resources after diverting special forces and equipment to help Moscow.
\u201cSo this seems to be a response that emphasizes preventing a recurrence rather than escalating tensions with South Korea,\u201d he added.
Pyongyang has itself sent drones southwards \u2014 in 2022, five North Korean drones crossed the border, prompting the South Korean military to fire warning shots and deploy fighter jets.
The jets failed to shoot down any of the drones.<\/p>\n