North Korea claimed Saturday it had discovered the remains of at least one crashed South Korean military drone in the capital Pyongyang.
Pyongyang released images of the device, which some analysts confirmed was South Korean.
The nuclear-armed North recently accused Seoul of using drones to drop anti-regime propaganda leaflets on the capital.
Pyongyang’s defense ministry spokesperson said security authorities found the remains of a crashed drone during a search of the North Korean capital on October 13, the official KCNA news agency reported.
The North’s investigation “scientifically proved that the drone came from the ROK,” the unnamed spokesperson said, using South Korea’s official acronym.
South Korea’s military initially denied sending drones but declined to comment.
“There is no value in verifying or responding to North Korea’s unilateral claims,” it said in a brief statement Saturday.
North Korea has previously warned it would consider it “a declaration of war” if another drone was detected.
The North Korean official claimed the drone was of the same type as a vehicle-mounted drone publicly displayed by the South Korean military during an Armed Forces Day event in Seoul on October 1 last year.
KCNA released several images of what it claimed was the recovered drone, including one showing it lodged in a tree and others featuring North Koreans who appeared to be officials.
Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said that based on the images released by the North, the drone was “clearly a long-range reconnaissance small drone used by … the South Korean military.”
