Stronger security urged for presidential office

One of two crashed drones found in South Korean territory last week that had photographed Cheong Wa Dae underlined the importance of beefing up the security of the presidential house, analysts said Thursday.

Experts raised concerns Thursday that President Park Geun-hye might be vulnerable to attacks from such an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which South Korean radar failed to detect.

“President Park’s schedules are secret, but many are aware of them in advance like hundreds of journalists who cover the presidential house,” said Shin In-kyun, chief of the Korea Defense Network.

“A drone equipped with a weapon and intelligence on Park’s whereabouts would be a dangerous mix for presidential bodyguards. We should do something to address the imminent threats on our chief executive.”

On March 24, the wreckage of an unidentified UAV fitted with a digital camera was found in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. The light-blue vehicle took a number of aerial pictures of Cheong Wa Dae and nearby areas.

Because the drone, which Seoul tentatively concluded came from North Korea, snooped over Park’s office undetected, the presidential house is scrambling to come up with countermeasures.

“After the investigations are done on the two UAVs, the defense ministry and military will announce broad-based measures to address any threats posed by UAVs,” Park’s spokesman Min Kyung-wook said.

On Monday, another drone was discovered on Baengnyeong Island in the West Sea, which the Ministry of National Defense also believes was deployed by the North to spy on the frontline region.

Defense officials said that the two UAVs have similar airframes and the one found in Paju, south of the Demilitarized Zone, has an inscription in Korean with North Korean standard spelling. By Kim Tae-gyu, The Korea Times