S Korea fires at North’s drones after incursion

South Korea accused the North of flying several drones across their shared border yesterday, prompting Seoul's military to deploy warplanes to shoot them down -- with local media reporting one of the planes later crashed.

The incursion was the first time in years that North Korean drones have invaded the South's airspace and came hot on the heels of a recent flurry of sanctions-busting weapons tests by Pyongyang.

The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the military first detected a suspected North Korean unmanned aerial vehicle around the airspace of Gimpo at 10:25am (0125 GMT) and "responded immediately".

"This is a clear act of provocation in which North Korea invaded our airspace," a JCS official told reporters.

The incursion prompted Seoul to fire warning shots and deploy fighter jets and attack helicopters to shoot down the five drones, one of which reached airspace near the capital.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the incident marked the first time that South Korean flights were suspended over "the appearance of North Korean drones", adding they were likely for spying purposes.

It was the first time in five years that North Korean drones had invaded South Korean airspace, and the latest in a series of provocations from Pyongyang this year, including an unprecedented blitz of weapons tests -- among them, the launch of its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile yet.