SEOUL, Dec. 9 (UPI) — Nine Chinese and Russian military aircraft briefly entered South Korea’s air defense zone on Tuesday morning, and South Korea’s air force scrambled fighter jets, military officials said.
Seven Russian and two Chinese military aircraft entered the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) in South Korea’s eastern and southern waters around 10 a.m. before taking off, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters.
“Our military identified Chinese and Russian military aircraft before they entered the South Korean Air Defense Identification Zone and deployed Air Force fighter jets to take tactical measures to prepare for any emergencies,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
There was no violation of airspace, it added.
An air defense zone is not airspace, but a wider area where countries require foreign aircraft to identify themselves for security reasons.
Since 2019, China and Russia have entered South Korea’s Air Defense Identification Zone many times without notification to conduct joint aerial training. In the most recent incident, 11 military aircraft from Russia and China flew into South Korea’s Air Defense Identification Zone in November 2024.
A military official told Yonhap News Agency that Russian and Chinese aircraft remained in the air defense zone for about an hour on Tuesday.
