South Korea’s military said Friday it flew warplanes as five Chinese and six Russian military aircraft flew through the air defense zone, an area larger than the country’s airspace.
Five Chinese and six Russian military aircraft entered and left the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone in the East and South Seas from 9:35 a.m. (0035 GMT) to 1:53 p.m., Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
But the planes entered KADIZ “without violating South Korean airspace,” the JCS said, adding that the military “identified the aircraft before entering KADIZ and deployed Air Force fighter jets to take tactical measures in preparation for any possible unforeseen events.”
An air defense identification zone is a wider area than a country’s airspace in which it tries to control aircraft for security reasons, but the concept has not been defined in any international treaty.
China’s Defense Ministry called the flights “their ninth joint strategic patrol,” which took place over the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea in South Korea.
It added in a post on its official social media account that the flights were held on Friday “in accordance with the annual cooperation plan between the Chinese and Russian armies.”
South Korean military officials told local media that Chinese military planes flew toward the tiny Dokdo Islands off South Korea’s east coast after passing between the Korean Peninsula and Japan near the disputed submerged Rock of Ieodo.
Russian planes also flew south towards the Dokdo islets, known in Japanese as Takeshima.
Officials said the Chinese and Russian planes flew together over the sea south of Dokdo before taking off.
Since 2019, China and Russia have regularly flown military aircraft into South Korea’s air defense zone without notice, citing joint exercises.
U.S. Air Force/South Korea Ministry of Defense via AP
Similar incidents took place in June and December last year, and in May and November 2022, with Beijing and Moscow describing the flights as “joint strategic air patrols.”
South Korea’s Defense Ministry on Friday “expressed its regrets” to China and Russia over their military aircraft entering the South’s air defense zone and “flying for an extended period without prior notice,” according to a statement.
The ministry called for “appropriate measures to be taken to prevent a recurrence”, adding that such actions could “unnecessarily increase tensions in the region”.
China and Russia have expanded military and defense ties since Moscow ordered them to do so troops to Ukraine almost three years ago.
Both are also traditional allies of North Korea, Seoul’s arch-enemy.
South Korea and the United States have accused nuclear-armed North Korea of sending nuclear weapons thousands of soldiers to Russia to fight in Ukraine and this month Pyongyang ratified a historic defense pact with Moscow.
The South Korean fighter jet hunt marks the latest incident involving Russian and Chinese militaries in recent months.
Earlier this month, Italy and Norway subsequently mobilized aircraft Russian planes were spotted across the Baltic Sea and along the Norwegian coast.
In September, Japan said yes fighter planes used flares to warn a Russian reconnaissance plane to leave northern Japanese airspace.
That same month, the U.S. military moved about 130 soldiers along with mobile missile launchers to a deserted island in the Aleutian Islands of western Alaska, amid a recent increase in Russian military aircraft and ships approaching U.S. territory. Eight Russian military aircraft and four naval ships, including two submarineshave come close to Alaska in recent days as Russia and China conducted joint military exercises.
In July, two Russian Tu-95s and two Chinese H-6s entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, NORAD said. The bombers were intercepted by U.S. F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, along with Canadian CF-18s and other support aircraft, a U.S. defense official confirmed to CBS News.
