{"id":2199784,"date":"2022-12-27T08:33:35","date_gmt":"2022-12-27T08:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2199784"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:10:28","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:10:28","slug":"why-seouls-military-budget-wont-budge-even-after-north-korean-drone-debacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/12\/why-seouls-military-budget-wont-budge-even-after-north-korean-drone-debacle\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Seoul\u2019s military budget won\u2019t budge even after North Korean drone debacle"},"content":{"rendered":"
Multiple North Korean drones <\/span>entered South Korean airspace<\/span><\/a> along the western border on Monday. While many details about what happened remain unclear, initial reports point to an embarrassing ROK military failure to counter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that has pushed the Yoon administration into damage control mode.<\/span><\/p>\n According to <\/span>Yonhap News Agency<\/span><\/i><\/a>, a fixed-wing drone flew into the airspace above northern Seoul before returning to North Korea, while South Korea detected four other drones that operated near Ganghwa island for more than five hours before \u201cdisappearing\u201d from ROK sensors.<\/span><\/p>\n The day after, President Yoon Suk-yeol sought to pin the blame for the incident on his predecessor\u2019s policies, while <\/span>voicing<\/span><\/a> \u201cregret\u201d that the National Assembly slashed the government\u2019s proposed budget for anti-drone operations by 50% next year. He said he would work with lawmakers to increase the amount.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet the political reality is that there\u2019s little chance the National Assembly will go along with what Yoon wants just days after concluding a hard-fought battle over the government budget for 2023, meaning that the military \u2014 and the president \u2014 are for now stuck with what they\u2019ve got.<\/span><\/p>\n UNIMPRESSIVE MILITARY RESPONSE<\/b><\/p>\n South Korea responded to the infiltration of suspected North Korean drones by <\/span>scrambling<\/span><\/a> about 20 military aircraft, including F-15K and KF-16 fighters, as well as KA-1 light attack aircraft and Apache and Cobra attack helicopters. One KA-1 light attack aircraft <\/span>crashed<\/span><\/a> soon after takeoff. Its two pilots safely escaped the crash and no one on the ground was injured.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yonhap<\/span><\/i> reports the ROK military <\/span>fired<\/span><\/a> more than 100 rounds at the UAVs, but all attempts to shoot down the drones failed. A military spokesperson later said that it refrained from shooting the drone over residential areas over fears of injury or property damage.<\/span><\/p>\n Later, the ROK military <\/span>responded<\/span><\/a> with a tit-for-tat measure by conducting its own UAV reconnaissance operations over the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) dividing the Koreas. According to the <\/span>Chosun Ilbo<\/span><\/i><\/a> newspaper, Seoul deployed two RQ-101 \u201cSonggolmae\u201d unmanned reconnaissance aircraft over the border.<\/span><\/p>\n Monday\u2019s drone operations mean that both Koreas violated the <\/span>Comprehensive Military Agreement<\/span><\/a> (CMA) signed in Sept. 2018. The agreement <\/span>prohibits<\/span><\/a> activities of UAVs in areas within 9 miles (15 km) from the MDL in the East and 6 miles (10 km) from the MDL in the West.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On Tuesday, Yoon blamed the former Moon administration for Monday\u2019s events.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSouth Koreans would have seen very well just how dangerous it has been to base our North Korea policy on the DPRK\u2019s goodwill and military agreements [with them], seeing how there has been no concentrated effort or adequate building of military power to respond to [DPRK] drones and no relevant training at all since 2017,\u201d he <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n However, Yoon was incorrect in suggesting that South Korea has made no effort to build up military capabilities for responding to North Korean drones since 2017. The ROK Army <\/span>formed<\/span><\/a> a drone combat team under the wing of the Third ROK Army (TROKA) in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n South Korea also <\/span>allocated<\/span><\/a> $32.6 million (37.5 billion won) in Aug. 2021 to purchase domestic drones, a more than sixfold increase from the previous year.<\/span><\/p>\n