The drone was found at a South Korean border town last Friday and South Korean investigators have since discovered hundreds of photos from its Sony-made in-built camera, a Defense Ministry official said, requesting anonymity because of department rules.
South Korea's vice defense minister recently made a visit to the deployment site of a USA missile defense system amid political controversy here, an official said Tuesday.
The ministry says they include 10 photos of United States missile launchers and a radar system installed in the southeastern town of Seongju earlier this year.
The drone was believed to have crashed because it ran short of fuel while returning to the North. Beyond angering the North Koreans, experts say the Chinese worry the United States could use the system's advanced radar to spy inside China. Since Moon's May 10 inauguration, however, North Korea has conducted several missile launches in a show of its resolve to continue its weapons development program to cope with what it calls USA hostility. The official said more analysis was being conducted, including trying to determine if the drone had already transmitted the 10 photos of the THAAD site.
"The drone was similarly shaped to the one found in March 2014 on Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea, but a bit larger in size", said a military official.
RBI actively working on NPA resolution, action soon: Jaitley
Commenting on the performance of PSBs during 2016-17, Jaitley said PSBs had made a stable operating profit of ₹1.5-lakh crore. The government also reviewed the PSBs' preparedness for rolling out the goods and services tax (GST) regime from July 1.
North Korea has about 300 unmanned aerial vehicles of different types including one designed for reconnaissance as well as combat drones, the United Nations said in a report past year.
"The most urgent and unsafe threat to peace and security is North Korea", Mattis said.
Seoul estimates that Pyongyang operates over 300 drones for military purposes and that, if the origin of the new device is confirmed, it would be a demonstration of North Korea's progress in espionage and use of military technology. Those drones were unable to transmit photos in real time, investigators concluded.
"Cho has a good understanding about Moon's North Korea policy and inter-Korean issues and has extensive experience in areas spanning from exchanges to negotiations with the North", the presidential office said.
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