Seoul - A South Korean KA-1 light aircraft reportedly crashed on Monday as it scrambled to intercept North Korean drones that had intruded into South Korean airspace, Seoul’s military said, as cited by Yonhap news agency. Both pilots reportedly emerged unscathed.

According to an official cited by Yonhap, the military detected multiple “unidentified objects,” suspected to be unmanned aerial vehicles, in the Gyeonggi-do province bordering on North Korea.

Speaking at a briefing, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said South Korea’s military “responded to an unknown track presumed to be a North Korean drone in the Gyeonggi area this morning,” denouncing the incident as an “obvious provocation.”

The drones crossed the Military Demarcation Line between the two states, flying over the areas of Gimpo, Ganghwa Island and Paju, the military claimed.

The official described the drones as small, less than two meters in wingspan, adding that one of the five drones flew as far as northern Seoul.

The incident prompted the South Korean military to send in fighters, helicopters and other aircraft. However, it is unclear whether the drones were carrying any weapons, according to an official from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Footage released by local media shows a South Korean aircraft apparently scrambling to intercept the drones.

The latest incident comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Last week, Seoul claimed that North Korea had launched two ballistic missiles into the sea, days after US and South Korean warplanes conducted joint exercises.

North Korea has repeatedly argued that its missile tests come in response to the drills, which Pyongyang sees as a preparation for an attack.
-RT