Russian military aircraft briefly enter South Korea’s air defence zone

Several Russian military aircraft briefly entered South Korea’s Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) over waters off the country’s eastern coast on Tuesday afternoon, prompting South Korea to scramble fighter jets, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, according to Yonhap.

The Russian aircraft entered the identification zone near Dokdo, South Korea’s easternmost islands, and nearby Ulleungdo in the afternoon before leaving the area, the JCS said.

The military said the aircraft did not violate South Korean territorial airspace.

An Air Defence Identification Zone is not the same as a country’s territorial airspace. Such zones are established to allow foreign aircraft to identify themselves in advance and help prevent accidental encounters.

Yonhap reported that the previous similar incident occurred in late June, when about a dozen Chinese and Russian military aircraft briefly entered the air defence identification zone before leaving over waters to the east and south of South Korea. Seoul’s Defence Ministry protested to both China and Russia at the time.

By Tamilla Hasanova