South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that a drone People Power Party lawmaker Sung Il-jong claimed the Army's 1st Corps had mistaken for an enemy aircraft on Monday had flown above its approved altitude, making it necessary to verify whether it was unauthorized.
The Joint Chiefs said the drone flight in northern Gyeonggi Province on Monday had been approved in advance by the 1st Corps in accordance with established procedures and that the relevant operational units were aware of it. The flight was planned by a private company as a civilian drone operation in preparation for a new equipment evaluation project being conducted by the Army Test and Evaluation Command, the Joint Chiefs added.
However, the drone had been approved to fly below 500 feet for both the morning and afternoon flights. During the afternoon, it flew above the approved ceiling of 500 feet, the Joint Chiefs said.
"Accordingly, the 1st Corps carried out standard operational procedures to comprehensively verify and assess whether the drone was a pre-approved aircraft or a potentially unauthorized one," the Joint Chiefs said.
The Joint Chiefs went on to say that exposing the normal operational procedures of frontline units to the public could affect military readiness and troop morale.
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