U.S. special reconnaissance plane flies over Greater Seoul skies again

The RC-135, a special reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S., flew over the skies of the Greater Seoul region including Seoul to spy on North Korea on Thursday, it has been confirmed. The plane had also taken a sortie over the skies in the region earlier on September 16, when Washington and Pyongyang resumed working-level talks. According to “Aircraft Spot,” a military aircraft tracking site on Saturday, an RC-135 airplane flew into the skies over the Seoul region, and had a flight over Incheon, Seoul and Namyangju at a 10-kilometer altitude, before reaching the skies near Chuncheon in Gangwon Province.

The RC-135W, dubbed “Rivet Joint,” is tasked with collecting and analyzing communications and signals (SIGINT) through high-tech electronic sensors. The plane is capable of gathering electronic signals and communication information related to missile launches across the North Korean territory from South Korea. Since May until recently, a string of RC-135W family reconnaissance airplanes have flown into the South before and after the North fired four types of its new weapons. For this reason, watchers say that the U.S. might have monitored signs of provocations by Pyongyang again. Others say that the U.S. may be sending warnings against the North to not engage in an act that could lead to escalation of tension ahead of the South Korea-U.S. summit in New York on Monday.


Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com