The joint military-police investigation team has summoned a graduate student for further questioning regarding allegations of launching multiple drones into North Korea.
Law enforcement sources report that the task force is interrogating the primary suspect in the drone incident, a 30-year-old graduate student identified only as Mr. Oh, on Tuesday morning.
Mr. Oh previously appeared on a broadcast on January 16, claiming he had sent drones on three separate occasions to measure radiation contamination levels from a uranium facility in North Korea’s Pyongsan County.
The task force is probing the circumstances and motives behind Mr. Oh’s actions. They believe he manufactured the drones at Estelle Engineering, a company he co-founded with a junior colleague, Mr. Jang, before dispatching them to North Korea.
Recent allegations suggest that the Defense Intelligence Command may have supported Mr. Oh’s drone manufacturing activities. The investigation is expected to expand to address these related concerns.
Authorities had previously questioned Mr. Oh on January 24 and conducted two separate face-to-face interviews with Mr. Jang on January 16 and 23.
On the same day, investigators also brought in Mr. Kim, a close associate of Mr. Oh who served as the North Korea Affairs Director at Estelle Engineering, for questioning.
The task force is pursuing charges against these individuals for illegally operating drones (in violation of the Aviation Safety Act) and using unmanned aircraft to photograph domestic military installations (violating the Military Base and Military Facility Protection Act). All three suspects are currently under a travel ban.