Seoul, Jan 21 A joint team of South Korean 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 carried 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 January 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 South Korean 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, Yonhap news agency reported.
As part of Wednesday's raid, investigators searched the startup set up in the university but not the news outlets' offices.
The two suspects reportedly manufactured the drone at an engineering lab of their university. Investigators were seen transferring an unidentified object covered in white cloth, presumably from the lab, to their car.
Earlier this month, North Korea claimed South Korea had violated its sovereignty through drone incursions in September last year and on January 4, with Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, demanding that Seoul admit to and apologise for the incidents.
South Korea's military denied the claims, saying the drones in question were not operated by the military.
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