South Korea's unification minister, Jung Dong‑young, told reporters in Seoul on February 18 that a military‑police joint probe has identified a series of drone flights to North Korea, and that three South Korean civilians are now under criminal investigation. The inquiry, which began on January 12, covers alleged violations of aviation law and a statute criminalizing collaboration with an enemy power, and follows the inauguration of the new Lee Jae‑myung administration.
Jung said the probe found that the three civilians carried out four drone launches toward the North since Lee's government took office, and that investigators are pursuing charges. He also made a wider and politically charged allegation: that the previous Yoon Suk‑yeol government had launched 18 drone sorties in 11 separate operations aimed at Pyongyang and intended to intimidate North Korea's leadership and provoke military tension.
The minister framed the accusations as part of a broader effort to reverse a pattern of what he called reckless and dangerous behaviour by the prior administration, and pledged to take immediate steps to restore sections of the September 19, 2018 military agreement that established inter‑Korean no‑fly zones. That accord, reached during a peak in 2018 diplomacy between Seoul and Pyongyang, contained measures designed to reduce airborne tensions near the demilitarised zone and around frontline areas.
Restoring the 9·19 agreement's no‑fly provisions is intended to rebuild basic confidence between the Koreas after years of erosion, Jung said, but practical implementation faces hurdles. The original accord collapsed into disuse amid deteriorating ties and mutual suspicion; any revival will require verification mechanisms, reciprocal gestures and, crucially, Pyongyang's cooperation in an already fraught strategic environment.
Beyond the immediate legal and diplomatic dimensions, the episode underscores how drones have become a low‑cost instrument of political signalling and asymmetric risk between the two Koreas. Civilian operators, activist groups and state actors alike can now deploy small unmanned systems in ways that complicate command and control, raise the stakes for accidental escalation and force policymakers to choose between deterrence, restraint and legal enforcement.
The allegations also carry domestic political freight. Accusing a recent predecessor of deliberate provocation offers Lee's government a means of distinguishing its approach to the North, while opening the door to criminal prosecutions that could deepen partisan divides at home. International partners, notably Washington, will watch whether Seoul's steps to reinstate parts of the 2018 military pact can stabilise the front line or instead become another point of contention in an already volatile peninsula.