South Korea holds drill in Seoul to prepare for drone attacks

By Daewoung Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – A drone spraying red and yellow chemicals was taken down by South Korea special forces on Tuesday as they conducted a drill in Seoul to prepare for any attack as growing numbers of the remotely controlled devices take to the skies above the city.

The 45-minute exercise, which took place in the Seoul Sports Complex, in Songpa district, showcased three attack scenarios – drones delivering explosives or chemicals and also hostages being taken.

“There are terror attacks using drones happening periodically (around the world) and we have seen appearances of unauthorised drones gradually increasing in Seoul,” Shin Dong-il, a superintendent at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, said.

“Therefore, we planned this drill as there are growing threats of a new type of terrorism against the city of Seoul, such as terrorism with explosives or chemicals using drones.”

As part of the exercise, one self-destruct drone simulated an explosives attack, while another drone flew over the stadium spraying the chemicals before the special forces team halted it with jamming guns.

(Reporting by Daewoung Kim; Writing by Joori Roh; Editing by Alison Williams)