South Korea scrambles jets over Chinese, Russian warplanes

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

However, the foreign planes did not violate South Korean territorial airspace, the military said, as 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 incident occurred as Beijing and Moscow, traditional allies of North Korea, are seeming to step up their military cooperation, with Washington last month warning that their military ties were “growing and dangerous.”

What happened in the incident?

The aircraft 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.

The South Korean military 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 described the incident as “a routine flight activity.”

What is South Korea’s KADIZ?

The air defense zone occupies an area larger than South Korea’s airspace.

Russian and Chinese military jets already entered and exited the KADIZ in November last year, also causing Seoul to scramble its fighter jets.

Moscow does not recognize the air defense zone, while Beijing says it is not territorial airspace, meaning that aircraft from all countries should be able fly freely there.

Territorial airspace usually means the space above a country’s territory, extending 12 nautical miles (22 km) away from its coastline.