South Korea scrambles fighter jets after Russian and Chinese military aircraft enter its air defense zone

South Korea announced on Tuesday that it scrambled fighter jets after seven Russian military aircraft and two Chinese aircraft entered its Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) without prior notification.

KADIZ, established nearly a century ago during the Korean War, is monitored by South Korea’s military to detect early threats, though the zone extends beyond the country’s sovereign airspace.

According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the Russian and Chinese aircraft entered the zone at around 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. Kyiv time), but did not violate South Korea’s territorial airspace. After the aircraft were detected, South Korean fighter jets were deployed “in preparation for emergencies,” the JCS reported.

AFP notes that similar incursions have occurred regularly since 2019, when Russia and China began conducting joint military exercises in the region.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that Tuesday’s incident was part of such an exercise, stating: “At certain stages of the route, the strategic bombers were escorted by foreign fighter aircraft.”

China and Russia are both allies of North Korea, South Korea’s long-standing adversary. In contrast, Seoul has aligned itself with Ukraine, while Pyongyang has sent troops to fight alongside Russia.

Some captured North Korean soldiers in Ukraine are reportedly seeking asylum in South Korea—an increasingly complex issue for Seoul.

A JCS official told South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency that the Russian and Chinese aircraft repeatedly entered and exited KADIZ over the span of about an hour before fully withdrawing from the area.

Although South Korea’s sovereign airspace was not breached, the incident is viewed as part of a broader pattern of Russian drone and aircraft provocations along NATO’s eastern flank in recent months./TheGeopost.