S’Korea deploys fighter jets as Chinese, Russian military planes enter defence zone

South Korea, on Thursday, deployed fighter jets after two Chinese and four Russian military planes entered its air defense zone, South Korea’s military said.

The foreign military planes, however, did not violate South Korean territorial airspace, the military said, adding that they only flew into the country’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), an area where nations may try to control aircraft for security reasons but that is not subject to international laws.

The flight incident is coming as Beijing and Moscow, traditional allies of North Korea, step up their military cooperation, with Washington last month warning that their military ties were “growing and dangerous.”

According to reports, the aircrafts entered the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) off South Korea’s east coast between 11:53 a.m. (0253 GMT/UTC) and 12:10 p.m. and then left the area, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement.

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The South Korean military were said to have identified the planes “before they entered KADIZ, and deployed air force fighter jets to take tactical measures in preparation for contingencies,” the statement said.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, however, described the incident as “a routine flight activity.”

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