Since Friday, North Korea has been carrying out a campaign to jam GPS signals.
This action affected several boats and planes in South Korea.
Seoul calls on Pyongyang to “immediately stop its provocations.”
New tensions between the two Koreas against a backdrop of technology. Since Friday, North Korea has been jamming GPS signals, which has the effect of disrupting the navigation of neighboring planes and boats. Several ships and dozens of civilian aircraft in South Korea have already been affected, the South Korean military reveals.
“We strongly urge North Korea to immediately cease its GPS provocations and warn that it will be held responsible for any problems that result.”says the Joint Staff in Seoul in a press release.
Fear of “potential plane crashes”
The jamming in question consists of emitting unknown signals which saturate GPS receivers and make them unusable for navigation.“These attacks present a real risk of serious incidents, including potential plane crashes in the worst case”explains Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. South Korea has for years accused Pyongyang of regularly using this process from its territory.
In response, the South Korean military urged caution on civilian boats and planes traveling on and over the Yellow Sea between China and the Korean Peninsula, saying several vessels had already suffered “some operational disruptions“.
This episode comes in a period of tensions around North Korea, which a little over a week ago fired a missile presented as the most advanced in its arsenal and is accused of sending thousands of soldiers to help Russia in its war against Ukraine, all in the context of the American election won by Donald Trump.
