Three individuals, including a graduate student in his 30s who flew drones to North Korea, have been referred to prosecutors.
The National Investigation Headquarters of the Korean National Police Agency announced on the 6th that "the joint military-police task force (TF) has referred three civilian suspects to prosecutors on charges of general sedition, violation of the Aviation Safety Act, and violation of the Military Bases and Installations Act." One suspect was referred in custody, while two were referred without detention.
The task force confirmed that the suspects were either senior-junior classmates at school or friends who had been active in the same civic organization or had worked together at the presidential office of the previous administration, sharing common interests in North Korea and drones. They established and operated a drone company together starting around September 2023.
The aircraft was a drone programmed to depart from Ganghwa Island in Incheon, pass through Kaesong City and Pyongsan County in North Korea, and return to Paju City in Gyeonggi Province. Police determined that after conspiring to develop a drone undetectable by low-altitude air defense systems, the suspects flew and filmed the drone toward North Korea to prove their aircraft could evade both South and North Korean air defense systems and to publicize this capability for economic gain.
The suspects flew drones on four occasions: September 27, 2025; November 16; November 22; and January 4, 2026. During this process, they neither registered the drones with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport nor obtained filming approval from the relevant military unit commander.
The task force concluded that the suspects' drone, which crashed in North Korea, exposed South Korean military information stored on the device to the North, heightened inter-Korean tensions, caused changes to the South Korean military's surveillance posture, and thereby harmed the Republic of Korea's military interests.
The task force additionally confirmed that, beyond the four flights to North Korea, the suspects conducted eight test flights to verify drone performance in the Yeoju area of Gyeonggi Province between June 8 and November 15 of last year. The drone-related incident discovered in Yeoju last November was confirmed to be one of these eight test flights conducted by the three suspects.
Police stated, "We judged the suspects' charges as a serious threat to national interests and conducted a strict investigation, including arresting the main suspect," adding that "we plan to actively cooperate with prosecutors even after the referral."
