South Korean military says suspected DPRK drone spies on THAAD site

Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-13 16:30:05|Editor: Song Lifang
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SEOUL, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A South Korean military source has said that a suspected drone of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which was found last week near the east inter-Korean border, spied on the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment site in southeast South Korea.

According to an unnamed South Korean military official cited by local media outlets on Tuesday, the drone took hundreds of pictures, including about 10 photos of the THAAD site, with an embedded camera.

The photos, taken by the drone camera, included those of two mobile launchers and the radar of the U.S. missile shield that were installed on April 26.

Two THAAD mobile launchers and the AN/TPY-2 radar as well as other equipment were transported on the day to the site, or a golf course at Soseong-ri village in Seongju county, North Gyeongsang province.

The Seongju county is some 270 km south of the military demarcation line (MDL) that has divided the two Koreas since the three-year Korean War ended in armistice in 1953.

The suspected DPRK drone was first detected last Thursday by a resident at a mountainous area in Inje, Gangwon province near the eastern inter-Korean land border, according to reports.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said last Friday that the suspected drone was similar in size and shape to the DPRK drone that was seen in March 2014 at Baenyeong Island near the western border.

After a detailed analysis, however, the object was found to be different from the past DPRK drones, as it was bigger in size and had a twin engine.

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