Intelligence reports indicate that North Korea has been conducting near-daily disruptions of aircraft Global Positioning System (GPS) signals for approximately two months, beginning in early December of last year.
On January 16, Rep. Park Chung-kwon of the People Power Party disclosed data obtained from the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology (ICT), revealing that North Korea carried out 87 instances of GPS signal interference targeting aircraft from December 5 to January 13.
The data shows a significant spike in GPS disruption activities on January 4, coinciding with President Lee Jae Myung’s state visit to China, with 23 recorded incidents – the highest daily count over the two-month period. This was followed by 15 incidents on December 9, 8 on January 10, and 6 on December 10.
GPS disruption involves the use of jamming signals to interfere with location data transmission for land, sea, and air traffic. North Korea first employed this tactic in 2010 and continued its use until a temporary cessation from 2021 to 2023. However, intelligence sources suggest that Pyongyang plans to resume consistent GPS disruption operations targeting both aircraft and vessels starting in March 2024, potentially escalating regional tensions.