South Korean fighter jets fired some 360 warning shots after a Russian military aircraft violated airspace twice Tuesday off the peninsula's east coast in an unprecedented breach, defense officials said. "But it wasn't immediately known whether the two countries deliberately did so", a South Korean official was quoted as saying by the media.
South Korea scrambled multiple jets, including F-15Ks and F-16Ks, after the Russian plane entered South Korea's territory over the East Sea, South Korean officials say.
According to Korea's military, two Chinese H-6 jet bombers entered the Kadiz at 6:44 a.m. on Tuesday on the northwest side of Ieo Island, which is southwest of Jeju Island in the South Sea.
South Korean fighters did not fire any warning shots toward Russia's two bombers, the Russian defense ministry said in a statement, which made no mention of any A-50 aircraft.
A South Korean Air Forces KF-16 fighter takes off at an air base in Gunsan, South Korea, on April 20, 2017.
Moscow denied any of its military aircraft had violated South Korean airspace, saying its planes had carried out planned drills over global waters.
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Schuster said that the fact shots were fired meant Seoul had viewed the violation as a serious and deliberate act, adding he couldn't explain why the Russian plane would come back again after the first warning.
At around 9.33 a.m., it entered Korea's air defence identification zone. The two countries established diplomatic ties in 1990.
Seoul defence officials said the Russian reconnaissance aircraft left the area three minutes later but later returned and violated South Korean airspace again for four minutes. A South Korean defense ministry spokesman did not directly address the Russian accusation of reckless behavior, but said that South Korea never said the Tu-95 bombers had violated its airspace. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo that South Korea's actions were "totally unacceptable and extremely regrettable" in light of Japan's claim over the islands. Japan also protested to Russian Federation for allegedly violating Japanese airspace.
There was no comment from Russian or Chinese officials. The warning shots also drew criticism from Japan, which is locked in a territorial dispute over the Dokdo/Takeshima islets with South Korea. South Korea said the Chinese planes didn't intrude upon South Korean airspace.
South Korea's MoD said that the Chinese and Russian aircraft were "engaged in coordinated maneuvering" while flying in the KADIZ.
Japan and South Korea often scramble fighters when Chinese military planes enter what they consider to be their airspace, but experts said it was very unusual for warning shots to be fired.
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