A KA-1 light attack aircraft from South Korea crashed immediately after leaving its Wonju base in the country’s east, according to a defense ministry spokesman.

After North Korean drones “violated” South Korea’s airspace, South Korea says it has dispatched fighter jets and attack helicopters and fired warning shots.

Monday, according to the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, several unmanned North Korean drones crossed the border and were spotted on South Korean soil.

It is the first time that such gadgets have entered South Korean airspace since 2017 when a wrecked drone was discovered in the country.

A South Korean KA-1 light attack aircraft crashed immediately after leaving its base in the country’s eastern region of Wonju, according to a defense ministry spokesman.

Its two pilots were able to elude the crash and were transported to a hospital.

According to the Yonhap news agency of the South, the government recorded North Korean drones breaching the Military Demarcation Line, the land boundary ringed by a demilitarised zone, between the two nations.

According to the South Korean news outlet NEW1, a North Korean drone also briefly hovered above Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

According to the country’s transport ministry, earlier flights from Incheon and Gimpo airports were suspended at the request of the military.

North Korea has previously boasted about its drone program, and according to South Korean officials, it has over 300 drones.

Several suspected North Korean drones were discovered south of the border in 2014, and experts described them as low-tech but a security risk.

The incident happens days after the missile launch

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Boxing Day incident occurred just days after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters.

The missile was seen as a protest against the South Korean and American air drills, which North Korea perceives as an invasion rehearsal.

North Korea has performed an unprecedented number of missile tests this year in an effort, according to some experts, to enhance its weaponry and exert pressure on its adversaries to make concessions in future negotiations, such as the easing of sanctions.

Relatively recently, the North has also claimed to have conducted major tests required to acquire its first spy satellite and an intercontinental ballistic missile.