South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff stated on Tuesday that a total of 9 military aircraft from China and Russia entered the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the eastern and southern sea areas of South Korea. South Korean military jets were scrambled in response, but no airspace violations occurred.
According to South Korean military officials, around 10 a.m. local time, 2 Chinese aircraft and 7 Russian aircraft successively entered the ADIZ. South Korea detected the approaching aircraft before their entry and promptly dispatched fighter jets to prevent any potential incidents.
The Chinese and Russian military aircraft intermittently stayed in the identification zone for about an hour before completely leaving the area.
South Korean authorities reported that the aircraft from China and Russia that entered the ADIZ included bombers and fighter jets. Specifically, 2 Chinese and 4 Russian military aircraft were participating in a joint military exercise between the two countries.
However, the activities of the Chinese and Russian aircraft in this instance covered geopolitically sensitive areas.
The Russian military aircraft entered the ADIZ over the Ulleung Island and Dokdo, while the Chinese aircraft entered the ADIZ over the area near the Liancourt Rocks. The two countries’ aircraft then met over Tsushima Island before leaving the identification zone.
It is worth noting that Japan refers to the “Dokdo” island as “Takeshima”. The island is under the actual control of South Korea, but Japan and North Korea both claim sovereignty over it.
Additionally, the Chinese term for “Liancourt Rocks” is “Suyan Reef”. Currently, there is a dispute between China and South Korea over the delineation of the exclusive economic zone around the reef. Around March 2025, there was a tense standoff between Chinese and South Korean coast guard ships in the waters near the reef.
An official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff mentioned that South Korea and Russia have a naval hotline, and when South Korea inquired about the Russian military activities, Russia responded that it was conducting routine training and had no intention of entering South Korean airspace. Due to the lack of a hotline between South Korea and China, South Korea was unable to seek clarification from China on the situation.
South Korean military officials also highlighted that the area over the Liancourt Rocks, where the Chinese aircraft entered, is a overlapping region of the ADIZ between South Korea and China. China reportedly enters this area approximately 90 to 100 times a year.
Since 2019, Chinese and Russian military aircraft have typically entered South Korea’s ADIZ once or twice a year without prior notification.
It’s important to note that the ADIZ is not South Korean airspace, but rather designated to require foreign aircraft to identify themselves to prevent accidental conflicts. A similar incident occurred last November when a total of 11 Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered the ADIZ.