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| ▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 10, 2026, shows what North Korea claimed was a drone sent by South Korea on Sept. 27, 2025. The North's military said it struck the drone with its electronic means to force it to fall in Jangphung County in the North's border city of Kaesong. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
(2nd LD) joint probe-drone incursion
(2nd LD) Homes, offices of 3 civilian suspects raided over alleged drone flights to N. Korea
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By Chae Yun-hwan
SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- A joint team of police and military investigators on Wednesday raided the homes and offices of three civilian suspects accused of flying drones into North Korea, police said.
The team began carrying out search and seizure warrants against the three civilian suspects on charges of violating the Aviation Safety Act at 8 a.m., according to the National Police Agency's National Office of Investigation.
The joint investigation was launched last week after North Korea claimed South Korea infringed on its sovereignty with drone incursions in September and on Jan. 4. South Korea's military has denied involvement, saying it does not operate the drone models in question.
Police said they would conduct a thorough investigation while keeping all possibilities open but declined to identify the suspects.
The raid comes after a 30-something graduate student, surnamed Oh, claimed to have flown the drones himself in a media interview aired last Friday. The team also questioned a civilian suspect over the alleged incursions the same day.
The two, who attended the same university in Seoul, were found to have worked at the presidential office under former President Yoon Suk Yeol and to have co-founded a drone manufacturing startup with university support in 2024.
Oh also operated two online news outlets focused on North Korea, which have now been shut down after they faced accusations of serving as front companies for covert operations of a military intelligence agent.
As part of Wednesday's raid, investigators searched the startup set up in the university but not the news outlets' offices.
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