SEOUL: South Korean investigators raided the offices and homes of three civilians on Wednesday (Jan 21) over their alleged role in sending drones into the North, police said.
Pyongyang accused Seoul of having flown a drone into the border city of Kaesong earlier this month, releasing photos of what it said was debris from one it shot down.
South Korea has denied its military or government were involved in the operation but has alluded to the possibility that civilians carried it out, vowing to punish those responsible if that is the case.
"The joint military-police probe team is executing search and seizure warrants... at the residences and offices of three civilian suspects in connection with the drone incident," the Korean National Police Agency said in a brief statement.
Investigators vowed to conduct a "thorough probe while leaving open all the possibilities".
One man has claimed responsibility for the infiltration, saying he did so to detect radiation levels from the North's Pyongsan uranium processing facility.
"I flew the drone to measure radiation and heavy-metal contamination around the uranium processing plant there," the man, identified as Oh, said in a recent interview with broadcaster Channel A.
President Lee Jae Myung has denounced the alleged civilian-led drone operation, calling it "an act of initiating the war".
"This is the equivalent of firing a shot into the North," he said Tuesday, adding: "We must severely punish those responsible so it will not be repeated."
South and North Korea remain technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
The drone saga comes as former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol stands trial on charges that he illegally ordered drone operations in hopes of provoking a response from Pyongyang and using it as a pretext for his short-lived bid to impose martial law.
Yoon was impeached and removed from office in April last year over his martial law attempt. - AFP
