Seoul seeks to bolster drone use in air defense zone

South Korea is seeking to facilitate the use of drones and other military tools to better monitor and guard its air defense identification zone amid a rise of unreported entries of foreign airplanes.

The Defense Ministry said Monday it has proposed an amendment to the military aircraft operation act to shore up “defects” in its ADIZ management and lay the legal foundation for the use of drones.

In 2013, the country announced its new ADIZ that stretches further south to include its submerged rock of Ieodo and areas south of Marado and Hongdo islands.

The first expansion in 62 years followed Beijing’s unilateral airspace declaration, which sparked fresh regional tension because its ADIZ included Ieodo and a chain of islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan and claimed by China.

The revision calls for “national security” to be included in the aim of the legislation, unmanned aerial vehicles to be added to the definition of military aircraft, and measures to be devised to detect unidentified flyers.

“The concept of national security was inserted as more military and civilian jets operated by neighboring countries violate our ADIZ in line with the overlapping of the ADIZs of Korea, China and Japan resulting from China’s demarcation and Korea’s expansion, posing an additional source of threats to the safety of the nation and people,” the text reads.

“The newly added phrases are aimed at establishing the legal basis for taking steps to identify unidentified aircraft in our ADIZ given that the current law only stipulates the grounds to formulate the measures.”

Though it did not elaborate on the identification measures other than sending military planes, ministry officials are believed to be considering using long-range air search radar.

They also refused to provide the number of cases of unreported entries by foreign jets, but indicated that most of them are of Chinese origin.

“Japanese planes would not breach ours even though the two countries’ ADIZs overlap, because we’ve agreed to notify any entry to each other,” a ministry official said, asking for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Located south of Jejudo Island and 4.6 meters below sea level, Ieodo has often been a source of diplomatic spats between Seoul and Beijing as it lies in the intersection of the two neighbors’ exclusive economic zones.

Until the 2013 expansion, South Korea’s ADIZ, demarcated by the U.S. in 1951 during the Korean War, did not cover the reef, where it has been operating a scientific research facility since 2003.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)