A man in his 30s who claims to be the person who sent a drone to North Korea is known to have worked at the Yongsan presidential office during the administration of former President Yoon Suk-yeol.
According to Yonhap News on the 16th, a person identified as A, who gave media interviews claiming he flew the South Korean drone that North Korea made public, was known to have worked on contract in the presidential office's Spokesperson's Office during the Yoon administration.
That day, A said in an interview with Channel A that A requested the interview after seeing the "military-police joint investigation TF" summon B, an acquaintance who made a drone for A, as a suspect for questioning. Introducing A as an ordinary college student, the broadcast said A claimed to have flown a drone to measure radiation and heavy metal contamination at a uranium plant located in Pyeongsan County, North Korea.
A said A had sent a drone a total of three times since September last year, and claimed that the exterior, camouflage colors, and patterns of the drone North Korea disclosed were painted personally by A. A also said A plans to voluntarily appear before police soon to be questioned.
A police official told Yonhap News, "There is nothing we can confirm at this time regarding the interview content," adding, "We are conducting an investigation into all possibilities." The Korean National Police Agency earlier announced in a media notice that "the military-police joint investigation TF has requested the appearance of one civilian suspect and is conducting an investigation into the related matter."
Earlier, in a statement on the 10th, the General Staff of the Korean People's Army claimed it had shot down drones that South Korea infiltrated in September last year and on the 4th. In response, the Ministry of National Defense suggested it was likely a civilian drone, saying it was not a drone owned by the military, and President Lee Jae-myung ordered a joint military-police investigation.