Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of North Korea's Labor Party, said, "What is clear is the fact itself that a drone from South Korea violated the airspace of our state," adding, "There must be a concrete explanation of the entity."
Kim issued this statement through the Korean Central News Agency on the 11th. Earlier, regarding North Korea's claim that South Korean drones infiltrated on the 4th and in September last year, the Ministry of National Defense said the military did not operate drones on those dates and would investigate the possibility that they were civilian drones. President Lee Jae-myung also ordered the formation of a joint military-police investigation team to look into the possibility that civilians flew the drones.
Kim said, "The essence of the situation is not whether the actor was the military or a civilian."
Kim also said, "Personally, I would like to assess as a wise choice for survival the official position in which South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said it had no intention to provoke or irritate us," but added, "If South Korea chooses to provoke us in the future, it will not be able to bear the terrible situation that will ensue."
Kim argued that because there is material showing that the drone that infiltrated North Korea filmed a uranium mine and guard posts on North Korea's border, the South Korean government cannot escape responsibility even if it was a civilian or individual act.
Kim said, "If they try to advance the logic that (because it was the act of civilians) it does not constitute a violation of sovereignty, they will likely witness the appearance of numerous flying objects launched by civilian groups within the territory of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."
Kim said, "The current authorities in Seoul have no right to judge the Pyongyang drone intrusion incident committed by the previous 'Yoon punk regime' as if it were someone else's affair," adding, "Which administration committed the act is something to be discussed within their own house."
She continued, "Whether it was Yoon (former President Yoon Suk-yeol) who did it or Ri (President Lee Jae-myung) who did it, for us it is equally South Korea's grave provocation against the sacred and inviolable sovereignty of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," adding, "This drone incursion from South Korea once again greatly helped us cement a clearer image of South Korea as a rogue, trash group."