North requests civil aviation agency review of South's drone incursion
Published: 28 Aug. 2025, 15:04
Updated: 28 Aug. 2025, 17:52
![Members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agency take photos of the logo as they arrive at ICAO headquarters in Montreal on Oct. 1, 2022. [REUTERS/YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/08/28/1d0e4718-7877-44eb-bd6f-c994167cb7b8.jpg)
Members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agency take photos of the logo as they arrive at ICAO headquarters in Montreal on Oct. 1, 2022. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
North Korea has once again requested a full investigation by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), claiming that a South Korean military drone violated its airspace — just mere months after a similar complaint from April was dismissed.
According to NK News, Pyongyang submitted at least four documents ahead of the 42nd ICAO Assembly scheduled for next month, urging a comprehensive review of the ICAO Council’s discussions on North Korea from 2022 to 2025.
This follows the council’s dismissal of North Korea’s initial complaint in April, which alleged that a South Korean drone dropped leaflets over Pyongyang. The council concluded that the case did not fall under the Chicago Convention and lacked sufficient evidence of a threat to aviation safety.
In its latest filing, however, North Korea reiterated that the drone incursion constituted a violation of its sovereignty and a breach of the Chicago Convention, accusing the ICAO's previous ruling of double standards.
Ed Condit, a former commercial pilot and aviation expert, responded by noting that while North Korea criticizes double standards, it has frequently endangered civilian aviation by launching ballistic missiles without prior notice to regional authorities.
“While drones can present a threat to civilian aviation, military drones do not fall under the regulations for state aircraft,” he told NK News.
In a separate document, North Korea defended its missile tests as military operations that fall outside the scope of the Chicago Convention and denied accusations that its GPS jamming endangered civil aviation.
However, ICAO condemned North Korea's GPS disruptions in April, warning that they had endangered more than 4,000 civilian flights. The ICAO Council also criticized the North last month for launching missiles without advance notice and urged an immediate halt to such actions.
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.
BY BAE JAE-SUNG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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