South Korean Jets Fire Warning Shots At Russian Jets

[Ryan Ruck]

South Korea Says It Fired 360 Warning Rounds At Russian Jets Who Entered Its Airspace, Moscow Disputes Incident

July 23, 2019

South Korean air force jets fired 360 rounds of warning shots Tuesday in response to “multiple” Russian military planes that entered into the South's airspace, officials said.

Seoul officials said three Russian military planes – two Tu-95 bombers and one A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft – entered the South’s air defense identification zone off its east coast before the A-50 intruded in South Korean airspace.

An unspecified number of South Korean fighter jets, including F-16s, scrambled to the area and fired 10 flares and 80 rounds from machine guns as warning shots.

South Korean defense officials said the Russian aircrafts left the area three minutes later, but later returned and violated the country’s airspace again for four additional minutes. Again, South Korean fighter jets responded by firing 10 flares and 280 rounds from machine guns as warning shots.

Russia quickly disputed the incident, saying that two of its Tu-95MS bombers were on a routine flight over neutral waters and didn’t enter South Korean territory.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the South’s fighter jets didn’t fire any warning shots, though it said they flew near the Russian planes in what it called “unprofessional maneuvers” and posed a threat.

“If the Russian pilots felt there was a security threat, they would have responded,” the statement said, adding: “This is not the first time that South Korean pilots tried unsuccessfully to prevent Russian aircraft from flying over the neutral waters of the Sea of Japan.”

A South Korean defense ministry spokesman told Reuters that Seoul never said the Tu-95 bombers had violated its airspace. He did not directly address the Russian accusation of reckless behavior.

The incident could complicate relations between the two nations and raise tension in the region that has for years been overshadowed by hostility between the United States and North Korea.

South Korea said it was the first time a foreign military plane had violated South Korean airspace since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea's presidential national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, told top Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev that South Korea views Russia's airspace violation "very seriously" and will take "much stronger" measures if a similar incident occurs, according to South Korea's presidential office.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff summoned Russia's acting ambassador and its defense attache respectively to protest.

Meanwhile, Japan protested to Russia for allegedly violating Japanese airspace and to South Korea for firing warning shots there.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that South Korea's firing of warning shots was "absolutely unacceptable" in light of Japan's territorial claims to Korean-controlled islands that Japan calls Takeshima and South Korea calls Dokto. He said Tokyo "strictly objected to Russia and South Korea via separate diplomatic channels and strongly requested the prevention of a recurrence."

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Confirms Joint Air Patrol With China After South Korea Claims Airspace Violation

July 24, 2019

Russia confirmed Tuesday that it had carried out its first-ever joint air patrol with China, an event which prompted South Korea to scramble fighter jets in response.

Moscow's defense ministry said four bombers, supported by fighter jets, patrolled a pre-planned route over "neutral waters" in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, according to the BBC. South Korea claimed that two Tu-95 bombers and one A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft entered the South's air defense identification zone along with two Chinese bombers off its east coast before the A-50 intruded in South Korean airspace.

According to South Korean accounts, an unspecified number of South Korean fighter jets, including F-16s, scrambled to the area and fired 10 flares and 80 rounds from machine guns as warning shots.

Seoul defense officials said the Russian reconnaissance aircraft left the area three minutes later but later returned and violated South Korean airspace again for four minutes. The officials said the South Korean fighter jets then fired another 10 flares and 280 rounds from machine guns as warning shots.

Seoul claimed that Tuesday's incident marked the first time a foreign military plane had violated its airspace since the end of the Korean War. Officials added that the Chinese planes did not intrude upon South Korean airspace.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she was not clear about the situation but noted the air defense identification zone is not territorial airspace and others are entitled to fly through it. She took issue when a reporter used the word “violation” to ask about China’s reported activity in South Korea’s air defense identification zone.

“I feel that given China and South Korea are friendly neighbors, you should be careful when using it [the word] because we are not clear about the situation,” she said.

But the commander of Russia's long-range aviation forces denied that the planes had violated South Korean airspace, though he did say that South Korean jets had fired decoy flares.

"If the Russian pilots had identified such a threat to themselves, they would have immediately given an appropriate response," Lt. Gen. Sergei Kobylash said, according to Russian news agencies.

He said South Korean military planes escorted the Russian planes over neutral waters, which he called "aerial hooliganism." Kobylash also accused South Korean pilots of performing "dangerous maneuvers," including "crossing paths with the aviation group and creating danger for the safety of the flight."

South Korea's presidential national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, told top Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev that South Korea views Russia's airspace violation "very seriously" and will take "much stronger" measures if a similar incident occurs, according to South Korea's presidential office.

The airspace that South Korea says the Russian warplane violated is above a group of South Korean-held islets roughly halfway between South Korea and Japan that have been a source of territorial disputes between the two Asian countries. Russia isn't part of those disputes.

Japan, which claims ownership over the islets, protested to South Korea for firing warning shots over Japanese airspace. South Korea later countered that it cannot accept the Japanese statement, repeating that the islets are South Korean territory. Japan also protested to Russia for allegedly violating Japanese airspace.