The South Korean Air Force scrambled fighters to intercept a Chinese warplane that entered the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ), national media reported on Wednesday citing a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2020) The South Korean Air Force scrambled fighters to intercept a Chinese warplane that entered the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ), national media reported on Wednesday citing a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer.
According to the South Korean state-run Yonhap news agency, a Chinese military aircraft believed to be a Y-9 surveillance plane, entered the KADIZ at 10:06 local time (01:06 GMT) near the island of Jeju and remained there for 17 minutes.
"Before the first entry, the Chinese side identified itself as a warplane carrying out normal military operations," a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said, as quoted by the agency.
The aircraft reportedly entered the South Korean air defense zone once again approximately 90 minutes later, remaining there for roughly 18 minutes, the agency reported.
The South Korean armed forces made "appropriate tactical responses in accordance with the related manual," the agency quoted the officer as saying, adding that fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the Chinese warplane.
Officials registered more than 25 instances of Chinese aircraft entering the KADIZ this past year, the agency reported.
While not constituting a country's airspace, entry into the KADIZ requires foreign military aircraft to make prior notification of any flight plans and to state their intentions in order to prevent accidents.
Relations between China and South Korea soured after Seoul in 2016 agreed to deploy the US-made Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense missile system, although attempts have been made to ease tensions through bilateral dialogue.
In December, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited South Korea for the first time in three years, with Chinese President Xi Jinping's potential visit to Seoul one of the major talking points during a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.
