South Korea scrambles fighter jets after Chinese plane trespasses airspace

Aug. 29 (UPI) -- South Korea scrambled more than ten fighter jets on Wednesday after a Chinese military aircraft trespassed into the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone, or KADIZ, according to Seoul.

The incident marks the fifth Chinese military incursion into South Korea-claimed airspace in 2018, News 1 reported.

Yonhap reported the plane entered Korean airspace at around 7:37 a.m. from an area southwest of Ieodo Island, or Socotra Rock, a submerged rock in the Yellow Sea that is also claimed by China.

Seoul's joint chiefs of staff said Wednesday after the Chinese plane trespassed into the Korea Strait area of the KADIZ, it "repeatedly entered and left" Korean airspace.

The Chinese aircraft then moved northward at a point about 40 miles northeast of Pohang, a southeastern Korean city.

At one point the plane arrived at an area about 52 miles east of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, where Seoul hosted the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

By 9:38 a.m., the plane was headed south, retracing its flight, leaving Korean airspace at about 11:50 a.m., according to Seoul.

South Korea deployed more than ten F-15K fighter jets to warn the Chinese plane, tracking the aircraft and issuing "warning broadcasts."

According to News 1, the Chinese plane was likely a Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft.