The Ministry of National Defense said on the 28th that it lodged a stern protest over Chinese and Russian military aircraft's unauthorized entry into Korea's air defense identification zone (KADIZ).
In the afternoon, Lee Gwang-seok, the Ministry of National Defense's director-general for international policy, lodged a stern protest by phone with the Chinese defense attaché in Korea and the Russian defense attaché in Korea, respectively, and urged them to prevent a recurrence.
The Ministry of National Defense said, "Our military will actively respond to the activities of neighboring countries' aircraft in the KADIZ while complying with international law to defend our airspace."
The unauthorized entry of Chinese and Russian military aircraft into the KADIZ took place for about four hours starting around 8:30 a.m. on the 27th.
The military determined that about 10 Chinese and Russian bombers and fighters entered the KADIZ sequentially and then exited, and that there was no airspace violation.
There was no prior notification during this process. The military deployed Air Force fighters and carried out tactical measures to prepare for a contingency.
It has been about six months since Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered the KADIZ together in December last year. Since 2019, they have continued to enter the KADIZ citing combined training and other reasons.
An air defense identification zone is an area established to identify approaching military aircraft early and respond, and it is different from national airspace.
However, it is international practice for military aircraft entering another country's air defense identification zone to submit a flight plan to that country in advance and to notify their position upon entry.