In October 2024, North Korea accused South Korea of flying drones into the airspace over Chung-guyok, Pyongyang and dropping a large number of anti-North Korea political propaganda leaflets between 3 to 10 October. This incident ultimately led to the destruction of the Gyeongui Line and Donghae Line railways located in North Korea, further deteriorating inter-Korean relations and causing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The North Korean government later requested the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to intervene in the investigation, but the request was rejected due to a lack of conclusive evidence in April 2025. Investigations into the martial law crisis in South Korea revealed that President Yoon Suk Yeol had attempted to use the incident to incite North Korea to attack South Korea, but that this failed.
Background Both the South Korean and North Korean governments have opposed the ongoing balloon propaganda campaign. The South Korean government, concerned about freedom of speech, has never decisively interfered with the balloon releases by activists, but has taken some measures, including prohibiting the use of boats to release balloons, which greatly reduced the number of propaganda leaflets flying into North Korea. On the other hand, since the Sunshine Policy was promulgated, the two governments have reduced the organisation of psychological warfare, but tensions have re-emerged.
From 2016 to 2017, North Korea retaliated by airdropping 1,000 propaganda balloons into South Korea. However, since North Korea announced its abandonment of unification, North Korea's aversion to South Korea's balloon propaganda campaign has increased day by day, and it has called the propaganda items dropped by South Korea into North Korea "dirty items" and "despicable psychological warfare conspiracy". In order to counter South Korea's balloon propaganda campaign, North Korean Vice Minister of Defence Kim Kang-il announced that he would drop a considerable amount of waste paper and garbage in the border and interior areas between North Korea and South Korea, with the aim of "making South Korea realise that cleaning up these waste papers and garbage is a waste of manpower and resources".
Events On 11 October 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea made a statement criticising South Korea, stating that the South Korean government flew drones into the airspace of Chung-guyok and Pyongyang between 3 October and 10 October, airdropping a large number of anti-North Korea black propaganda leaflets, as well as engaging in military provocation. As North Korea was not satisfied, South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun attended the National Assembly's audit of the military court and stated in response to related questions that the South Korean military had not infiltrated North Korea with drones, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff also stated that it would confirm whether it was done by a civilian organisation. Subsequently, Kim Yo Jong, Deputy Director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, issued a statement saying that the South Korean government's statement that "the military has not sent drones to North Korea," and that "it is necessary to confirm whether it was done by a civilian organisation" was an attempt to shirk its responsibility, and that it would retaliate if South Korean drones reappeared in Pyongyang. The North Korean Ministry of National Defence responded to the South Korean Ministry of National Defence's position by saying that it held an ambiguous attitude of neither denying nor admitting the situation and was hesitant about whether civilian groups had the equipment to fly drones over Pyongyang. Afterwards, Kim Yo Jong made another statement regarding South Korea's sending drones to North Korea, saying that "the South Korean government is the culprit and the US government should bear the relevant responsibility."
Kim Yo Jong then issued another statement on 15 October, stating "there is sufficient evidence that the drone flight was carried out by South Korea and that South Korea will pay a heavy price". On the same day, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a message to the media confirming that North Korea had blown up a section of the Gyeongui Line and the East Sea Line north of the Military Demarcation Line at noon on the same day.
Investigation TV Chosun reported that a civilian organisation attempted to use drones to distribute leaflets. According to the content of the leaflets dropped by drones released by North Korea, the top of the leaflets read "Kim Jong Un only wants to line his own pockets," along with photos of Kim Jong Un wearing what appears to be a Swiss IWC Schaffhausen watch and his daughter Kim Ju Ae wearing a French luxury Dior coat. The leaflets also compared the amount of white rice and corn that South Korean and North Korean citizens could buy with their annual incomes, and the bottom of the leaflets read "North Korea's economic situation is like hell". The Free North Korea Movement Alliance stated that they did not launch any drones this year and would not take any responsibility for this. The Korea Unification Association stated that they had not heard of any defector groups distributing such leaflets. Lee Han-byung, a non-executive member of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and a representative of the North Korean Human Rights Promotion Centre, further pointed out that it was unnatural that these leaflets were not sent along with K-pop and Korean dramas on a USB flash drive.
Kim Yeol-soo, director of the Security Strategy Department of the Korea Military Research Institute, pointed out that the drone used stingray support wings, which are similar to the SKY-09 high-altitude drone manufactured by the People's Republic of China and seem to be the same as the North Korean drone that crashed in Ulleungdo and Paju in 2014. It is difficult to regard it as a drone used by civilian organisations, and it is also far removed from drones issued by the armed forces. In order to clarify the situation related to China's actions, the North Korean government ordered the Ministry of State Security, together with the security bureaus of North Pyongan Province and other provincial border areas, to investigate the cadres of all units that had business dealings with the People's Republic of China.
Hong Min, head of the North Korea Research Office at the Institute for Unification Studies, pointed out that it is difficult for ordinary people to make drones travel a straight distance of about 150 kilometres from Paju to Pyongyang. The drones that flew over Pyongyang were actually the same model and specifications as the small drones used by the UAV Operations Command for long-range reconnaissance. Park Won-gon, a professor in the Department of North Korea Studies at Ewha Womans University, said that because the drones are relatively small, they are rarely displayed directly on the radar, so they can achieve the purpose of infiltration to a low degree. Regarding the drones that entered Pyongyang, Yu Yong-won, a member of the National Assembly from the People Power Party of South Korea, analyzed the photos of drones identified by North Korea using thermal imaging surveillance equipment and found that although the wing shape of the drones was similar to that of the drones of the South Korean UAV Operations Command, the fuselage behind the wings was shorter and there were 3D printing marks. Until martial law was declared in South Korea in 2024, Hong Min provided three pieces of evidence that had not been made public before, stating, "How could ordinary civilians' drones not be detected by the South Korean military when they fly to the military demarcation line?"
On 19 October, the North Korean Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of State Security released photos and an investigation report of the drone that crashed on 13 October, indicating that the drone was a "small drone for long-range reconnaissance" equipped by North Korea's drone combat command, the same type of drone that was publicly displayed on a vehicle by the North Korean military on 13 October. They also inferred that the drone was likely involved in the leaflet drop in downtown Pyongyang. Aleksandr Matsegora, the Russian ambassador to North Korea, said in an interview that "in fact, around 0:30 on the evening of 8 to 9 October, I saw a drone flying over Pyongyang." The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that "North Korea's unilateral claims are not worth confirming or responding to." Kim Hyung-soo, commander of the North Korean Air Force Combat Command, said in an interview with the National Assembly's Defence Committee that after intensive tracking and analysis by the military and other government agencies, "no drone flew over North Korea."
Yu Yong-won released additional investigation data, stating that although the North Korean government had disclosed aircraft similar to those used by the South Korean Air Force, it had not disclosed any analytical data such as internal GPS navigation system records. Moreover, there are many drones with similar shapes in the domestic and foreign civilian sectors. "Based on comparative analysis, the drones disclosed are likely to be replicas manufactured in North Korea." Jeong Sang-chang, director of the Korean Peninsula Strategy Center of the Sejong Institute, countered that "this is unlikely to be a self-directed farce," because the incident shocked the top leadership of the North Korean government by passing through the office of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and that is why it appeared on the front page of the North Korean media in a rare manner to highlight the importance the North Korean government attached to the matter.
On 28 October, the North Korean government released the final investigation report on the drone, stating that the drone took off from Baengnyeongdo at 23:25:30 on 8 October, flew over the waters around Jangyon County and Chōdo Island in South Hwanghae Province, and then changed its route to the waters around Namchōa Island. It arrived over the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs building and Victory Metro Station at 1:32:08 the next day, and dropped black political leaflets over the North Korean Ministry of National Defence building at 1:35:11. According to the investigation, the drone had 238 flight plans and records between 5 June, 2023 and 8 October, 2024. Except for the flight record on 8 October, the rest were all within South Korea. Kim Yo Jong, vice minister of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, said that "the South Korean military did not respond without our report because they thought that the drone came from South Korea as a hypothetical situation, but I really want to see how they would react if this situation actually happened." Lee Sung-joon, chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's press office, said at a regular press conference on the same day that "the drone from Baengnyeong Island" was a unilateral claim by North Korea and was not worth confirming or responding to. He also responded to "Kim Yo-jong's statement implying retaliation", saying that "if North Korean drones infiltrate South Korea, the South Korean military will take corresponding measures to protect the lives and property of its citizens."