S. Korea Admits North's Drone Entered No-Fly Zone Around Presidential Palace Last Month

One of the five North Korean spy drones which crossed the heavily guarded inter-Korean border in late December reached a no-fly zone in central Seoul and may have filmed the Yongsan presidential office, Yonhap News Agency reports citing South Korea's military intelligence.

• The Yongsan building serves as the official residence and main workplace of President Yon Suk-yeol after he moved his office from the Blue House following his inauguration. The presidential residence is at the centre of a 3.7km-radius no-fly zone for security reasons.
• The admission that the unmanned aerial vehicle entered the zone comes after an earlier denial by South Korean officials amid criticism of insufficient security measures that allowed the North's drones to penetrate the border.
• A military official told Yonhap that the drone "briefly flew into the northern edge of the [no-fly] zone, but it did not come close to key security facilities." The anonymous official cast doubt on the possibility of the drone taking photos of key facilities, although the National Intelligence Service refused to rule it out.
• The geopolitical tensions in the Korean peninsula remain heightened, with North Korea believed to have completed technical preparations for a nuclear test. A ruling party lawmaker confirmed that the test is "possible at any time."