Russia wants probe on alleged South Korea airspace violation

Russia wants an investigation into South Korea's allegation that a Russian military plane violated South Korean airspace, a senior lawmaker said Wednesday, citing Moscow's acting ambassador.

The US called for close consultation between Washington and Seoul to deal with similar incidents in the future.

Seoul said South Korean fighter jets fired 360 rounds of warning shots to drive away the Russian reconnaissance plane that entered its airspace twice Tuesday during a joint patrol with Chinese bombers. Russia and China said none of their planes entered South Korean territory.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it will hold talks with officials from the Russian Embassy on Thursday and that it has evidence that can prove Russia's territorial trespassing.

South Korea says the incident marked the first airspace violation by a foreign military plane since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Seoul officials said five Russian and Chinese warplanes, including that Russian reconnaissance aircraft, made a highly unusual joint entrance to South Korea's air defense identification zone, prompting South Korean fighter jets to scramble.

Such a zone is not a country's territorial sky and extends beyond it. It is meant to give authorities an early warning of a possible incursion.

Some experts in South Korea say Russia and China may have wanted to see how decades-long trilateral security cooperation among South Korea, Japan and the United States would work amid escalating trade disputes between Seoul and Tokyo.

The experts say China, embroiled in a separate trade war with the US, may have also attempted to display its military cooperation with Russia.

China's Defense Ministry said Wednesday that China and Russia carried out their first joint air patrol in Northeast Asia that "does not target any third party."
Spokesman Wu Qian said in Beijing the two countries each sent two bombers for the patrols along established air routes and that they "didn't enter the territorial airspace of other countries."