North Korean GPS tampering has disrupted dozens of planes and ships, South Korea says

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean military said North Korea On Saturday, GPS signals from border areas were jammed for the second day in a row, affecting an unspecified number of flights and shipping operations.

Tensions between the rival Koreas have escalated under North Korea’s leadership Kim Jong Un shows off his advancing nuclear and missile programs and engages in electronic and psychological warfare, such as flying thousands of balloons We drop garbage and anti-South Korean propaganda leaflets in the south.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korean operations to manipulate GPS signals were detected around the western border town of Kaesong and the nearby city of Haeju on Friday and Saturday, saying the activities disrupted dozens of civilian aircraft and several ships.

While the South Korean military warned aircraft and ships near western border areas, it did not say how North Korea jammed the GPS signals or provide details on the extent of the interference.

“We call on North Korea to immediately stop GPS jamming provocations and strongly warn that it will be held fully responsible for any resulting consequences,” the South’s joint commanders said in a statement.

North Korea’s GPS signal jamming and balloon campaigns highlight the vulnerability of South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, its main transportation gateway, analyst Sukjoon Yoon recently wrote on the North Korea-focused website 38 North.

The airport, which handles 56 million people and 3.6 million tons of cargo annually, is less than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from North Korea.

“There have been no major aviation incidents to date, but GPS jamming can endanger commercial airlines flying in poor visibility and is a violation of international navigation safety conventions,” Yoon wrote. He said North Korean garbage balloons disrupted the airport’s runway operations 12 times in 2024 for a total of 265 minutes.

Kim has shown more hostility this year toward Seoul’s conservative government, which has maintained a hard line against Pyongyang as the North has abandoned its longstanding goals of reconciliation with its war-torn rival rewrite its constitution To cement South Korea as a permanent opponent.

North Korea too blew up parts of its unused road and rail routes joined the South in October in a symbolic demonstration of its anger toward Seoul and opened November with a flight test of one new ICBM to put pressure on Washington.

South Korean officials say North Korean activity to jam GPS signals from western border regions increased early in the country Dropping garbage balloons toward the South in late May, in what the North described as retaliation against South Korean civilian activists Leaflets containing anti-North Korean propaganda across the border.

Aside from North Korea’s weapons demonstrations and unconventional provocations, there is growing concern over North Korea’s alleged provision of weapons military equipment and troops to Russia to support President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. South Korean officials say the deepening military alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang could potentially lead to Russian technology transfers that raise the threat of Kim’s military nuclear program.