South Korea scrambles jets after Chinese, Russian warplanes enter its air defence zone

South Korea’s military said on Thursday it scrambled fighter jets as two Chinese and four Russian military planes entered its air defence zone, an area wider than the country’s airspace.

The Chinese and Russian planes entered and exited the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, from 11:53am to 12:10pm local time, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

But “there was no invasion of airspace”, it added, and 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”.

An air defence identification zone is a broader area than a country’s airspace in which it tries to control aircraft for security reasons, but the concept is not defined in any international treaty.

Aircraft are supposed to identify themselves as they draw near the air zone.

The planes flew above waters between South Korea and Japan, the JCS reportedly said, and were in the general vicinity of an island claimed by Seoul and Tokyo.

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The flights come as the two Koreas have backed away from a 2018 deal to reduce tensions along their border. After North Korea fired a rocket into space last month that deployed a spy satellite, South Korea restarted surveillance flights it had halted and North Korea threatened action against the aircraft from its neighbour.

Russia has been looking to enlist North Korea in joint military exercises that include China. During a rare trip to Pyongyang in July, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu proposed to leader Kim Jong-un that they hold joint naval drills that included China, Yonhap reported, citing South Korea’s spy agency.

There is no indication that North Korea accepted the offer. Kim’s state media on Thursday slammed the US, Japan and South Korea for their plan to launch a system this month to share real-time data on missile launches from North Korea, saying the move is pushing the region toward conflict.

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China and Russia are North Korea’s traditional allies, and Washington warned last month that military ties between Pyongyang and Moscow were “growing and dangerous”.

Military jets from Moscow and Beijing also entered and exited Seoul’s KADIZ in November last year, prompting the South to scramble its fighter jets.

Similar to the incident on Thursday, none violated South Korea’s airspace at that time.