A U-2S Dragon Lady, a US high-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, takes off from the U.S. Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. The aircraft is shown as a reference image and has not involved in Thursday's incident. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
Aug. 2 (Asia Today) -- A breakdown in South Korea's military reporting system appears to have caused troops to mistake a U.S. Marine Corps training drone for a potentially hostile North Korean aircraft near the inter-Korean border, bringing air defense units close to an attempted interception.
U.S. forces had notified the South Korean Army's I Corps of the drone's flight plan before Thursday's exercise, according to military officials. The information, however, was not passed to the Ground Operations Command or the Air Force Operations Command, which held authority over the flight and the military response.
The incident has renewed concern over structural gaps in information sharing between the South Korean and U.S. militaries.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff has sent an inspection team to I Corps to examine the detection, reporting and response process.
