In recent months, the situation on the Korean Peninsula has been highly tense. Both South Korea and North Korea have launched a series of military exercises with the other side as the imaginary enemy. Compared with the prosperity of the Korean People's Army, South Korea has frequently made fools of itself in a series of military operations. On October 5, in order to counter North Korea's test-launch of the tactical missile , the South Korean army test-fired a Hyunmoo-2C tactical missile. As a result, the missile lost control shortly after launch and hit the South Korean military base, causing a large fire. On November 20, the South Korean Air Force held an exercise to counter the large-scale deployment of the North Korean Air Force. As a result, a KF-16 fighter crashed during the exercise. These things are enough to disgrace South Korea. However, to everyone's surprise, North Korea's series of military activities in the past two days have made South Koreans "break their defenses" and even made South Korean President Yin Xiyue furious.
Just on December 26, five North Korean drones crossed the border and went deep into South Korean territory for reconnaissance. One of them even flew to Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The South Korean army dispatched anti-aircraft guns , armed helicopters and ground attack aircraft to intercept North Korean drones. They fired hundreds of machine gun shells, but failed to shoot down any North Korean drones. Instead, a South Korean KA-1 ground attack aircraft lost control and crashed during the interception. The two pilots parachuted to escape.
After seven hours of swaggering in South Korean airspace, the five North Korean drones flew back contentedly and escaped unscathed. What's even more ironic is that on the 27th, the South Korean military's radar found North Korean drones operating near Ganghwa County, Incheon. The South Korean military immediately dispatched anti-aircraft artillery units, armed helicopters and fighter jets to the site of the incident. However, it was later discovered by the South Korean radar unit that the flying objects on the radar screen were not North Korean drones, but just a group of water birds.
First, North Korean drones were allowed to fly in South Korean airspace as if they were uninhabited, and then they mistook a group of flying birds for North Korean drones. The South Korean military's low-level mistakes caused an uproar in public opinion. The South Korean Defense Minister and the Chief of Operations of the Joint Staff Headquarters publicly apologized.
However, these measures still failed to quell public doubts and ridicule. As a result, South Korean President Yin Xiyue became furious and prepared to take tough measures to counter North Korea.
According to South Korea's MBC TV station, Yin Xiyue said that North Korea's drones are small and difficult to detect by the South Korean military's radar. In order to prevent similar incidents from happening again, Yin Xiyue urged the South Korean military to immediately establish a drone unit and should also consider sending drones into North Korea's airspace.
Yin Xiyue also said that the primary person responsible for causing North Korean drones to penetrate South Korean airspace was former President Moon Jae-in. Yin Xiyue said that since Moon Jae-in came to power, the South Korean military has not conducted targeted anti-drone training. This has resulted in the South Korean military being helpless after North Korean drones entered South Korean airspace.
Obviously, Yin Xiyue intends to use the North Korean drone's entry into South Korean airspace as an opportunity to launch a political struggle, put all the responsibility for this incident on Moon Jae-in, discredit Moon Jae-in's moderate policy towards North Korea, and criticize Moon Jae-in and his Democratic Party.
And the Democratic Party of Korea immediately launched a counterattack. Kim Byung-joo, a member of the party's congressman, said that Yin Xiyue should remember that he is the president of the South Korean military and should not shirk responsibility blindly. It is not difficult to see from Yin Xiyue's actions that he obviously used this matter as a bargaining chip in his internal political struggle.
In the South Korean general election held at the beginning of this year, the vote count of the Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung was only thousands of votes less than that of Yoon Seok-yue, only a hair's breadth. Moreover, the Common Democratic Party still has 180 seats in the Korean National Assembly, occupying an absolute majority. If Yoon Seok-yue wants to fully grasp power, he needs to attack the power of the Minjoo Party, let it fail in the 2024 National Assembly election, and let the ruling party become the majority party in the National Assembly. Therefore, Yin Xiyue was busy blaming the Moon Jae-in government for the North Korean drone's easy entry into South Korean airspace and the failure of the South Korean military to intercept it.
From this point of view, although Yin Xiyue proposed to establish a drone force, this is only an extremely abstract idea without detailed implementation details. It is likely that this statement was only proposed by Yin Xiyue to prevaricate the media and attack political opponents. Even if the South Korean military purchases a large number of powerful drones from the West and establishes a large-scale drone force, it may not be able to prevent a similar situation from happening again.
You must know that the South Korean army has deployed a large number of advanced air defense systems on the military demarcation line between South Korea and North Korea, from "Patriot" to "Tiangong-2" to " THAAD " and "Pave Claw" radar systems. If these weapons exert their paper capabilities, then the South Korean military will be able to grasp the whereabouts of the North Korean drone as soon as it takes off, and it is impossible for it to be active in South Korean airspace for several hours.
A similar situation had already occurred in 2010. On November 23 of that year, the Korean People's Army launched an artillery bombardment on Yeonpyeong Island, a disputed island between South Korea and North Korea. Although the Korean People's Army only had old D-20 towed howitzers and BM-21 "Hail" rocket launchers, it suppressed the South Korean artillery equipped with K-9 self-propelled artillery , killing two South Korean soldiers and injuring more than ten people. Although the K-9 self-propelled artillery of the South Korean artillery has higher accuracy and is equipped with advanced artillery radar, it failed to hit the North Korean artillery position and allowed the North Korean artillery to retreat.
If South Korea cannot change the problem of corruption in the military and repeated abuse and bullying of recruits, then no matter how much advanced equipment it purchases and how many new troops it forms, it will be impossible to win the conflict as long as the soldiers are demoralized and demoralized. However, instead of correcting these stubborn problems, Yin Xiyue planned to use this matter as an opportunity for political struggle. It seems that for a long time to come, the Korean army will still be in this situation of advanced equipment but repeatedly being at a disadvantage in military games.
