The Civilian Control Line area near the border in Paju, Gyeonggi, is seen on June 17.YONHAP
Civilians were evacuated after the Korean military mistakenly treated a U.S. drone as an unidentified aircraft, raising questions over communication between Korea and the United States.
On Thursday afternoon, the U.S. drone — a first-person view drone — was detected south of the general outpost line in a civilian control zone in northern Gyeonggi by surveillance equipment operated by the Army's 1st Corps, which is responsible for guarding the area, according to military sources.
"Appropriate measures were taken in accordance with standard operational procedures," a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official said Thursday.
A preliminary investigation by the JCS found that the drone was a U.S. military asset participating in the Korea Marine Exercise Program (KMEP), a joint exercise between the Korean and U.S. Marine Corps.
U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) also confirmed that the drone belonged to the U.S. military.
The drone was identified south of the southern limit line — which is a military control line south of the military demarcation line— but it has not been confirmed whether it entered the demilitarized zone.
Village heads in Cheorwon County, Gangwon, received a text message at around 2:30 p.m. Thursday stating that an unidentified drone had been detected in the area and instructing anyone north of the civilian control line to move immediately to a nearby shelter or outside the controlled zone, according to residents in the civilian control line area.
The image shows an emergency text alert sent to village heads in communities north of the Civilian Control Line in nearby Cheorwon County, Gangwon, after an unidentified drone was detected in the northern border region of Gyeonggi on July 30. The alert instructed residents to evacuate and seek shelter.YONHAP
The sender was believed to be the military, and the alert appeared to have been issued under the military's "Durumi" operation — a protocol for responding to drone threats. No actual evacuation ultimately took place.
"Personnel at the civilian control line checkpoint in Yongyang-ri instructed residents entering the restricted area to withdraw, and later informed them that the situation had been resolved," the resident told the JoongAng Ilbo.
The confusion has sparked criticism within the military that the flight route and deployment details for the KMEP exercise may not have been adequately shared with Korea's front line units.
The U.S. Marine Corps' drone flight plan may not have been properly communicated to the Korean side, or there may have been a breakdown in communication within the Korean military. Another possibility is that the drone deviated from its planned flight path.
The U.S. military also said U.S. Marine Corps personnel are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident and will continue coordinating with the Republic of Korea Marine Corps and local authorities.
The USFK, however, maintains that it notified the Army's 1st Corps in advance. Military authorities are now reviewing the drone's flight path over the area and the chain of internal communications surrounding the incident.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
