South Korea scrambles jets as China and Russia fly warplanes into its air defense zone
CBSN
Seoul — South Korea's military said Thursday it scrambled fighter jets as two Chinese and four Russian military planes entered its air defense zone, an area wider than the country's airspace. The Chinese and Russian planes entered and exited the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, for just less than 20 minutes around midday local time, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
But "there was no invasion of airspace," the joint chiefs 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 defense 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.
Russia launched a barrage of missiles at Ukraine Thursday in its first major retaliation for Ukraine's attack earlier in the week on a military facility in the Russian region of Bryansk. That strike saw the Ukrainians use American-made and supplied long-range missiles known as ATACMS, which President Biden had given the Ukrainian forces permission to fire deeper into Russian territory only two days earlier.